Cook Islanders voted yesterday in a snap election -- held two years ahead of schedule -- to select a new government for the politically volatile South Pacific nation that has seen eight coalition governments in 10 years.
Nearly 10,000 voters filed into polling booths across the nation's 15 islands in the Pacific Ocean and cast ballots for one of two main parties and a clutch of independent candidates.
Within two hours after voting ended, the nation's electoral office declared interim results for 21 of the 24 parliamentary seats, with the governing Democratic Party taking 11 seats and the opposition Cook Islands Party taking 10.
Polls before the ballot suggested that the two major parties were locked in a neck-and-neck race.
The major policies of the two main parties are closely aligned. Both have promised to support the tiny nation's primary industry, tourism, and the development of a black pearl industry that has attracted offers of marketing support from both China and Japan.
Both have also promised political reform to prevent lawmakers from swapping their party allegiance after the election, one of the causes of political instability during the past decade.
After voting booths closed the chief registrar of electors, Terry Hagan, said it had been a quiet day marred only by wet weather.
"We've had no problems so far," he said.
Final results are due on Oct. 2 after all ballots are collated.
One legislator from the Democratic Party had already been declared to have been elected after he ran unopposed for a Penryhn Island seat.
Democratic Party leader Terepai Maoate said earlier he was confident that Prime Minister Jim Marurai would win a resounding victory at the polls.
Cook Islands Party leader Henry Puna said the party's first task if it wins power would be to pass a budget.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese