The Queen's Representative in the Cook Islands has dissolved parliament and called for a snap election in July.
Transcript
The Queen's Representative in the Cook Islands has dissolved parliament and called for a snap election in July.
The current term of parliament was due to have ended in November with elections being held by February.
The move is suggested to be linked to dissatisfaction within government ranks.
Jenny Meyer reports.
The office of the Queen's Representative in the Cook Islands says general elections will now be held on July the 9th - at least six months before they were expected. A spokesman Anthony Brown says the timing will mean the new government will be better prepared to pass its budget and organise 50th anniversary celebrations of self rule next year.
ANTHONY BROWN: There is a need for the incoming government that they can be well placed in advance for the budget for the month of July for the new fiscal year and especially in terms of addressing our 50th anniversary of self government for 2015 where there are major, major events. And just affirming the full participation of our people.
But the leader of the opposition Democratic party says that is merely a public relations line and the real reason for the early election is what he likens to a coup within the ruling Cook Islands Party. Wilkie Rasmussen says the Prime Minister Henry Puna has lost the support of his caucus members. He says two government MPs were not in the house yesterday and he believes once the Prime Minister realised he'd lost the confidence of his team, he went to the Queen's Representative to call for the dissolution.
WILKIE RASMUSSEN: You can say it's a coup within his own party to dislodge the Prime Minister. That coup was finding it's way to parliament but the Prime Minister acted before it could get to parliament. And I think he simply failed to read the concern of members in his party.
Wilkie Rassmussen says he's not surprised by the call for early elections and believes the current government has departed from it's promises and been insensitive towards the public. The Prime Minister, Henry Puna, did not return our call. The former General Secretary for his Cook Islands Party says the two MPs who were absent from parliament are Teina Bishop and George Magie. Temu Okotai says they stayed away as they were unhappy about some controversial decisions made over the past twelve months that were to the detriment of the party and the government.
TEMU OKOTAI: Things like the grey power problem with some of the retirees from New Zealand who were asked to pay a lot of arrears on their pension tax. And then the raiding of their accounts in the banks by the Inland Revenue, those kind of things, that's caused quite a bit of dissension amongst party members.
Temu Okotai says the government promised to give back the money but this hasn't happened and the retirees are still agitating. He says the recent passing of legislation to increase valued added tax from 12.5 to 15 percent on April the 1st came out of the blue and also caused some unrest within the party. Mr Okotai says the leadership of the Cook Islands Party will not change unless there is a party conference and he's unsure this will go ahead with the election date now being brought forward.
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