Anxious wait on Cook Islands courts after recount
A recount of results in the Mitiaro electorate from the Cook Islands general election in July has given the Democratic Party candidate the seat by a single vote.
Transcript
A recount of results in the Mitiaro electorate from the Cook Islands general election in July has given the Democratic Party candidate the seat by a single vote.
The result of the recount gives the Democrats' Tangata Vavia 50 votes and the Cook Islands Party's Tuakeu Tangatapoto 49 votes after one vote was ruled invalid by the Chief Justice.
A by-election was held on November 11th but those results have not been counted pending the court hearing a petition and counter petition on December 15th and the court is cautioning the latest recount will not be final until these are heard.
Jenny Meyer spoke to Tangata Vavia as news of the recount result broke.
TANGATA VAVIA: I've heard unofficially from the scrutinier that went to that recount, but nothing official yet.
JENNY MEYER: What's your reaction to that news?
TV:Oh I think it's good for the Democratic Party and for my supporters in Mitiaro. However there's still some more petitions to be dealt with.
JM: How confident are you that this will stick after all of the due process through the courts, it's been such a long journey hasn't it from July?
TV: It is, it is. And even both sides, my supporters and the other side, are just anxious to get to the end of this whole thing. And I think everybody else in the whole country are wanting to get this over and done with and get a government to start working here.
JM: Does it have the potential still to swing the balance of power in the Cook Islands or not at this stage?
TV: Well there's still two constituencies, like the Mitiaro one and the Aitutaki one. One of the constituencies in Aitutaki is, the court decision there is reserved. So there's still two constituencies that are needed to be sorted out.
JM: And the potential is to go either way is that right? Or is it likely that the Puna led government will hold?
TV: Again that's a difficult question for me to answer now. We've been speculating for so long now that it is no longer a good road to go down in the mean time.
JM: It must be expensive, all of these court hearings?
TV: In that area I'm not too sure what the costs are. I know the petition is quite costly, each petition, but I don't know what it amounts to now, the cost.
JM: And how are you feeling after it all? Are you, have you still got energy for the job or are you a bit exhausted by the length of the process?
TV: Well the interim, the one vote now has at least given us respite there, hope, yeah, that's really given some energy there.
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