A former Cook Islands Prime Minister, Sir Terepai Maoate, has been dumped by his Democratic party in the Rarotonga seat of Ngatangiia.
When the Cook Islands go to the polls on November the 17th Mann Short will contest Ngatangiia for the Democrats.
He won the run off last night (garnering 172 votes to Sir Terepai's 162.
Mr Short says he succeeded because he's promising action on some key local environmental concerns.
"We have the pollution problem in our lagoon. That needs to be fixed or something done about it and in our village we have the dumping ground where all the used car bodies are stacked, and it becomes an eye sore to the people."
Mann Short.
The run off was called following claims of a lack of transparency in the re-nomination of Sir Terepai back in May.
He had held the seat for 25 years.
There had been threats the run off could lead to additional splits in a party that has already weathered a turbulent year.
