Cooks gearing up for election
Late News
RAROTONGA The Cook Islands, a nation with half the land area of Singapore spread out over ocean the size of India, faces a rowdy general election and referendum next month. With a population of around 18,500 people, the Cook Islands is one of the world’s smallest nations. It runs a complex tax haven operation and has huge debts which are big issues in the March 24 election.
Adding to the interest this time are referendums in which people will be asked to vote on whether parliament should sit for three, four or five years and on a national anthem, a flag, the fate of an overseas electorate and even the name of the country itself. At issue is changing the name from the Cooks to a Maori name. Since 1965, the Cook Islands has been self-governing state in free association with New Zealand and, until 1978, it was led by a colourful former trade unionist, Albert Henry,
who founded the Cook Islands Party
(Cip).
That year, he won an election but was stripped of office for electoral corruption when a court found he illegally char tered aircraft to fly in voters from New Zealand for polling day. Tom Davis, a former NASA doctor and leader of the Democratic Party, was premier until 1983, when the CIP led by Geoffrey Henry, a cousin of the founder, returned to power. Henry, 53, has stamped his personal style on the country.
Most controversially, he has turned the Cooks into a tax haven, and its activities are subject of various court actions and official investigations in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. United States Congressional in vestigators claim the Cooks banking system has been used to launder drug money although it is illegal here to ask any questions about the operations.