Politics of the Cook Islands
Political system of Cook Islands
The politics of the Cook Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The monarch of New Zealand, represented in the Cook Islands by the King or Queen's Representative, is the head of state; the prime minister is the head of government of a multi-party system. The nation is self-governing and fully responsible for its internal and foreign affairs; it has run its own foreign and defence policy since 2001. Executive power is exercised by the government, while legislative power is vested in both the government and the parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislatures.
Constitution
The Constitution of the Cook Islands took effect on 4 August 1965, when the Cook Islands became a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand. The anniversary of these events is commemorated annually on Constitution Day, with the week-long activities of Te Maeva Nui Celebrations locally.
Executive
Ten years of rule by the Cook Islands Party (CIP) came to an end 18 November 1999 with the resignation of Prime Minister Joe Williams. Williams had led a minority government since October 1999 when the New Alliance Party (NAP) left the government coalition and joined the main opposition Democratic Party (DAP). On 18 November 1999, DAP leader Terepai Maoate was sworn in as prime minister.
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This entry incorporates text from “Politics of the Cook Islands” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.