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Cook Islands general election 2026

Polling day . Counted by Chief Electoral Officer (Electoral Office, Ministry of Finance and Economic Management). Times are Rarotonga time; hover for UTC.

Final: 26 Aug 2026

Final result declared Rarotonga time, published by the authority: parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll.pdf. The window was 19 Aug – 1 Sept 2026.

Polls close
First count by
Counted by
Chief Electoral Officer (Electoral Office, Ministry of Finance and Economic Management)
Results page
parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll-1.pdf

Count stages Parliament of the Cook Islands, 24 seats

12 Aug19 Aug26 Aug2 Sept
Election-night count
12–14 AugElection-night count: Wed 12 Aug, 18:00 → Fri 14 Aug, 23:59, precedent.
Final resultexpected on the live page now
19 Aug – 1 SeptFinal result: Wed 19 Aug, 00:00 → Tue 1 Sept, 23:59, precedent. Published Wed 26 Aug, 11:27.
announced set by law or the authorityprecedent from the last electionestimate our estimateRarotonga time. Every window on this chart has passed.

Government. Westminster system with 24 single-member FPTP seats; 13 is a majority. The PM holds office while commanding a majority. In 2026 the incumbent says he kept his warrants (RNZ, 27 Aug 2026). No first-sitting date for the 19th Parliament was found. In 2022, petitions delayed the first sitting by 7½ months. Not before . Precedents: 11 days from polling day.

Stage windows and their sources 3 stages, each cited
  1. Election-night count
    →
    precedent
    Polls close at 6 p.m. local time, UTC−10 (Electoral Act 2004 s.49). Presiding officers announce booth results, and returning officers announce each seat's total 'forthwith' (s.74(3)–(4)). 2026: RNZ (13 Aug 2026) reported preliminary results for several seats 'as of 10pm local time' on 12 Aug. A per-candidate 'Preliminary count of Votes' PDF was posted on the Parliament site on 13 Aug (22:14Z) and updated on 14 Aug (23:22Z). Nassau voted on 13 Aug after a weather delay. 2022 precedent (vote 1 Aug): RNZ reported initial projections on 3 Aug 2022. The window closes at the end of 14 Aug local time. No observedAt: the preliminary PDFs are neither dated nor signed by the Chief Electoral Officer. The preliminary count excludes special and late votes, and seats changed at the final count (Pukapuka–Nassau in 2026; Titikaveka and Ngatangiia in 2022).
  2. Final result
    →
    precedent
    No statutory deadline: after the scrutiny of the rolls and the final count (Electoral Act 2004 ss.76–77), the Chief Electoral Officer declares the result by warrant (s.78). Precedent: 2022 (vote 1 Aug) was declared by warrant dated 11 Aug 2022 (Gazette 17/2022), day 10. Window (set late): start of 19 Aug 2026 local time (day 7) to end of 1 Sep 2026 (day 20), twice the 2022 lag. Actual: the CEO's warrant, Gazette No. 17/2026, is dated 26 Aug 2026 (day 14) and was first posted on the Parliament Gazette site at 26 Aug 2026 11:27 local time (21:27:39Z). Cook Islands News (26 Aug 2026) reported the final count was done the previous night. Petitions: s.92 allows 7 days after the declaration. Cook Islands News (3 Sep 2026) reported three petitions filed (Avatiu–Ruatonga–Palmerston, Matavera, Pukapuka–Nassau); a Court certificate under s.104 may change those seats. In 2022, the petitions were resolved in Dec 2022 (Gazette 26/2022) and in Mar 2023.
    Observed
  3. Government formed
    → —
    precedent
    The King's Representative appoints as Prime Minister the member who commands a majority (Constitution art. 13(2)(b)), and no fixed date follows the declaration. 2022 precedent: the Queen's Representative appointed Mark Brown by a letter 'given' on 12 Aug 2022, the day after the 11 Aug declaration. The letter cites his advice dated 11 Aug, following Public Notice No. 9 (Gazette 18/2022, on the Parliament site as Letter-of-Appointment-Hon.-Mark-Brown-as-Prime-Minister.pdf). In 2022, Parliament did not sit until 21 Mar 2023 because petitions were pending (Cook Islands News, 22 Mar 2023). 2026, press only: RNZ (27 Aug 2026) quotes Brown that, on Crown Law advice, he 'has held his warrants' because he won his seat and commands a majority. We found no official 2026 appointment document, so observedAt is not set. The window opens on the declaration day, 26 Aug local time.
Results sources 6 pages, 1 can answer a results question
URLRoleKindCan answer a results questionLast check
parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll-1.pdfresults-finalrace resultsyesnot checked yet
parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Cook-Islands-Parliamentary-Election-2026-1.pdfresults-liveotherno (election page without a results marker)not checked yet
parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gazette-Public-Notice-1-Announcement-of-Election.pdftimetableotherno (election page without a results marker)not checked yet
parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Electoral-No.-11.pdftimetableotherno (election page without a results marker)not checked yet
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Cook_Islands_general_electionsee-alsootherno (election page without a results marker)not checked yet
parliament.gov.ck/by-election/results-indexotherno (no election or results marker)not checked yet

Cite, embed, correct

Election Index, “Cook Islands general election 2026”, https://electionindex.org/election/cook-islands-general-2026, dataset 2026-09-25.d34ce25d. CC BY 4.0.

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Provenance: researcher agent 2026-09-25: Cook Islands Gazette notices of the Chief Electoral Officer on parliament.gov.ck (07/2026 announcement; 10/2026 and 11 Aug 2026 Nassau notices; 11/2026 officials; 17/2026 declaration warrant; 17/2022 declaration); Electoral Act 2004 No. 11 (parliament.gov.ck scan) ss.49, 68, 71, 74, 76–79, 92, 95, 104; preliminary-count PDFs (parliament.gov.ck, 13–14 Aug 2026); RNZ (13 and 27 Aug 2026); Cook Islands News (12 Aug, 26 Aug, 3 Sep 2026); Wikipedia 2022/2026 articles for leads (CC BY 4.0 (Election Index)). Last verified 2026-09-25.

Questions and answers

When is the Cook Islands general election 2026?
Polling day is 2026-08-12 (officially set).
When will the final result of the Parliament of the Cook Islands race be official?
Expected between 2026-08-19T10:00:00Z and 2026-09-02T09:59:59Z (UTC), confidence precedent. No statutory deadline: after the scrutiny of the rolls and the final count (Electoral Act 2004 ss.76–77), the Chief Electoral Officer declares the result by warrant (s.78). Precedent: 2022 (vote 1 Aug) was declared by warrant dated 11 Aug 2022 (Gazette 17/2022), day 10. Window (set late): start of 19 Aug 2026 local time (day 7) to end of 1 Sep 2026 (day 20), twice the 2022 lag. Actual: the CEO's warrant, Gazette No. 17/2026, is dated 26 Aug 2026 (day 14) and was first posted on the Parliament Gazette site at 26 Aug 2026 11:27 local time (21:27:39Z). Cook Islands News (26 Aug 2026) reported the final count was done the previous night. Petitions: s.92 allows 7 days after the declaration. Cook Islands News (3 Sep 2026) reported three petitions filed (Avatiu–Ruatonga–Palmerston, Matavera, Pukapuka–Nassau); a Court certificate under s.104 may change those seats. In 2022, the petitions were resolved in Dec 2022 (Gazette 26/2022) and in Mar 2023.
Where are the official Parliament of the Cook Islands results?
https://parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll-1.pdf