Mark Brown set for Cook Islands majority after election win

Mark Brown is set to return as Cook Islands Prime Minister with a majority rarely seen in the Pacific nation’s Parliament.

The governing Cook Islands Party (CIP) won 13 of the 24 seats in the final count of the 2026 election, enough to govern alone for a historic fifth consecutive term.

But the bigger development is the support of six independent MPs, which could give Brown’s incoming government a 19-seat caucus in Parliament.

The result is a major setback for the Democratic Party, which was the main opposition in the previous Parliament but failed to win a single seat.

The Cook Islands United Party won four seats while seven independents were elected, including three from Mangaia, two from Atiu and one each from Mauke and Manihiki.

Brown, who is in Auckland on his way to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau next week, was first elected to Parliament in 2010.

Independent Mangaia MPs Agnes Armstrong, Rimmel Poila-Mokoroa and Tetangi Matapo have joined the Cook Islands Party government, helping strengthen Mark Brown’s parliamentary majority. Photo/Cook Islands News

He will serve a fifth consecutive term as an MP. He became Prime Minister in October 2020 and led the CIP to another election victory in 2022.

Brown told Cook Islands News that advice from Crown Law meant he could continue as prime minister because he had won his own seat and commanded a majority.

“The Prime Minister has held his warrants because he's won his seat and now commands a majority.”

The Cook Islands Party has secured a fifth consecutive term in government after winning 13 seats in the 24-member Parliament. Photo/Facebook/Radio Cook Islands

He also confirmed ministers who retained their seats would stay in Cabinet.

The scale of the result gives Brown room to push ahead with policies that have put the Cook Islands under a stronger international spotlight.

This includes its growing ties with the United States, maritime security, and plans around its vast ocean territory.

Before the election, US Ambassador Jared Novelly met Brown to discuss ocean science, maritime security, and economic opportunities.

“The Pacific has a funny way of making distance on a map seem pretty irrelevant," Novelly said in a Pacnews report.

US Ambassador to the Cook Islands Jared Novelly, right, has congratulated Prime Minister Mark Brown on his re-election, with the two countries looking to strengthen cooperation on ocean science, maritime security and economic opportunities. Photo/US Embassy, NZ

"We're neighbors out here, and good neighbors show up for each other. Congratulations to Prime Minister Brown on his re-election. I look forward to what we can accomplish together.”

The Cook Islands is also looking more closely at what lies beneath its waters.

A 26-day expedition by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel Okeanos Explorer identified previously unknown fields of high-grade polymetallic nodules on the Cook Islands deep seabed.

Brown said the discovery was about more than the minerals themselves.

“What has returned to these shores is more than a research vessel. It is knowledge,” he said.

The Cook Islands will enter a new parliamentary term under a potentially dominant government, with the Cook Islands Party and its independent supporters able to command up to 19 of Parliament’s 24 seats. Photo/Cook Islands Tourism

“Even as an ocean nation, there is still so much about our own waters that we are only beginning to understand, and that understanding matters.”

The Cook Islands secured United Nations endorsement in 2025 for an additional 396,900 square kilometres of extended continental shelf, taking its maritime jurisdiction to about 2.3 million square kilometres.

Brown now heads into a new term with a strong parliamentary mandate and a long list of issues that will shape how the Cook Islands manages its ocean resources, international relationships and place in the Pacific.

His government is expected to be formally endorsed once the chief electoral officer issues the official Gazette confirming the final results.

Watch Cook Islands political commentator William Numanga's full interview on Pacific Mornings below.

Official Constituency Results:

• Tupapa Maraerenga: Tamaiti Maru Willie (CIP) 617 votes. Rota Tama Williams (CIUP) 227. Edward Victor Drollett (Demo) 117

• Avatiu Ruatonga Palmerston: Albert Taaviri Kaitara Nicholas (CIP) 376. Teina Rongo (CIUP) 226

• Ruaau: Tim Tunui (Shadow) Varu (CIUP) 370. Arama Joseph Wichman (CIP) 301. William (Smiley) Heather (Demo) 44

• Akaoa: Robert Stanley Heather (CIUP) 324. Teakaau Tex Tangimetua (CIP) 68

• Murienua: Teariki Heather (CIUP) 344. Nooroa Baker (CIP) 169. Samuel Mataroa (Demo) 17

• Titikaveka: Sonny Williams (CIP) 363. Elizabeth Iro (CIUP) 238. Sholan Ivaiti (Demo) 189

• Ngatangiia: Tutaka Ama (CIP) 272. Mapi Ioteva (CIUP) 241. Itinga Maoate (Demo) 65. Chris Denny (Progressive) 18

• Matavera: Taneao Ngamata (CIUP) 240. Vaitoti Tupa (Demo) 231. Aneru Tautu (CIP) 166

• Amuri-Ureia: Toanui Isamaela (CIP) 165. Nicholas Henry (IND) 98. Terepai Maoate (Demo) 106. Tumutoa Nicholls (CIUP) 25

• Arutanga-Reureu-Nikaupara: Tereapii Maki Kavana (CIP) 179. Maitoe Henry (CIUP) 113. Tekura Bishop (IND) 91

• Vaipae-Tautu: Teokotai Herman (CIP) 241. Teariki George (Demo) 139. Teariki Tangua (CIUP) 81

• Teenui-Mapumai: Rose Toki Brown (IND Enuamanu) 81. Charles Amaru Koronui (IND) 23

• Tengatangi-Areora-Ngatiarua: Te-Hani Brown (IND Enuamanu) 95. Puai Wichman (IND) 47

• Oneroa: Rimmel Poila-Mokoroa (IND) 77. Wesley Kareroa (Demo) 64. Teina Tearii (CIP) 66

• Tamarua: Tetangi Matapo (IND) 34. Ngatamaroa Ngatokorua (CIP) 23

• Ivirua: Agnes Armstrong (IND) unopposed

• Mauke: Stephen Matapo (IND Party) 175. James Beer (IND) 21

• Mitiaro: Tuakeu Tangapoto (CIP) 60. Makara Murare (CIUP) 35. Paul Allsworth (Demo) 2

• Rakahanga: Levi Teinaki (CIP) 32. Tina Browne (Demo) 27

• Penrhyn: Vaine Wichman (CIP) 71. Sarakura Tapaitau (IND) 50

• Pukapuka-Nassau: Tingika Elikana (CIP) 146. Dr Kirianu Nio (IND) 140

• Manihiki: George 'Maggie' Angene (IND) 56. Akaiti Puna (CIP) 51. Puapii William (IND) 15.