A mere 80 voters in the Cook Islands are being called to the polls on the island of Mangaia.
The by-election in the Ivirua electorate is to replace the former prime minister Jim Marurai, who resigned for health reasons after holding the seat for 20 years.
His opposition Democratic Party has nominated Tony Armstrong to stand while the ruling Cook Islands Party has chosen Orauamai Harry as its candidate.
Our correspondent in Rarotonga Florence Syme-Buchanan says depending on the election outcome, reform of the 24-member parliament could ensue.
Photo: wikicommons
Transcript
FLORENCE SYME-BUCHANAN: The issues are really for the two major parties - the Democratic Party and the ruling Cook Islands Party - because if the Cook Islands Party wins that seat it will give them a majority of 14 to 10 seats in parliament.
WALTER ZWEIFEL: How would that impact on politics in Rarotonga then?
FSB: Well, it'll give the Cook Islands Party a clear majority and it means they could visit issues in the constitution that they think could need tweaking because they would have the required majority. But interestingly when the member for Ivirua retired - and that was the former prime minister Jim Marurai - the prime minister Henry Puna said this could be a time to revisit the idea of political reform in the Cook Islands. With Mangaia and only 80 voters then one of the smallest constituencies in the country, it's long been suggested by both parties when they were in government, this could be a constituency that could be eliminated from parliament simply because it's got so few voters. But questions have been posed to the prime minister on political reform, what commitment he and his government have towards this and the reduction of seats in parliament but no response has been forthcoming.
WZ: How long has this debate been going on to have this reform?
FSB: The debate about political reform and the reduction of seats in parliament has been going on for over 25 years.
WZ: What are the challenges facing Mangaia now?
FSB: The challenges facing Mangaia right now, which face a lot of of our islands, is depopulation and is seriously affecting the ability of some of the outer islands to continue to be viable. Mangaia's population has reduced dramatically in recent years and in fact there is going to be some research done by university students over the next two weeks for the reasons behind the depopulation - and should the answers for regrowing the population come from the government or should they be led by the community itself who may have better answers than government because so far the government has not come up with anything substantial to regrow the population of the Cook Islands.
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