{
  "data": {
    "id": "cook-islands-general-2026",
    "country": "CK",
    "country_name": "Cook Islands",
    "date": "2026-08-12",
    "date_status": "declared",
    "kind": "general",
    "conditional": null,
    "timezone": "Pacific/Rarotonga",
    "status": "final-expected",
    "last_verified_at": "2026-09-25T14:00:00Z",
    "stale": false,
    "stale_reason": null,
    "provenance": {
      "from": "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",
      "licence": "CC BY 4.0 (Election Index)"
    },
    "url": "https://electionindex.org/election/cook-islands-general-2026",
    "races": [
      {
        "id": "parliament",
        "key": "cook-islands-general-2026/parliament",
        "name": "Parliament of the Cook Islands",
        "body": "legislature-unicameral",
        "seats": 24,
        "polls_close_utc": "2026-08-13T04:00:00Z",
        "authority": {
          "id": "ck-ceo",
          "name": "Chief Electoral Officer (Electoral Office, Ministry of Finance and Economic Management)",
          "name_local": null,
          "role": "electoral-commission",
          "homepage": "https://parliament.gov.ck/by-election/",
          "results_index": "https://parliament.gov.ck/by-election/",
          "open_data": null
        },
        "status": "final-expected",
        "expected_stage_now": "final-result",
        "observed": true,
        "final_observed": {
          "at": "2026-08-26T21:27:39Z",
          "source": "https://parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll.pdf"
        },
        "final_expected": {
          "from": "2026-08-19T10:00:00Z",
          "by": "2026-09-02T09:59:59Z",
          "confidence": "precedent",
          "basis": "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."
        },
        "stages": [
          {
            "stage": "election-night",
            "from": "2026-08-13T04:00:00Z",
            "by": "2026-08-15T09:59:59Z",
            "replacedAt": null,
            "confidence": "precedent",
            "citation": "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).",
            "source": null,
            "observedAt": null,
            "observedSource": null
          },
          {
            "stage": "final-result",
            "from": "2026-08-19T10:00:00Z",
            "by": "2026-09-02T09:59:59Z",
            "replacedAt": null,
            "confidence": "precedent",
            "citation": "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.",
            "source": null,
            "observedAt": "2026-08-26T21:27:39Z",
            "observedSource": "https://parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll.pdf"
          },
          {
            "stage": "government",
            "from": "2026-08-26T10:00:00Z",
            "by": null,
            "replacedAt": null,
            "confidence": "precedent",
            "citation": "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.",
            "source": null,
            "observedAt": null,
            "observedSource": null
          }
        ],
        "sources": [
          {
            "url": "https://parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll-1.pdf",
            "role": "results-final",
            "kind": "race_results",
            "kindReason": "election code and results marker",
            "resolvable": true,
            "origin": "race",
            "note": "Cook Islands Gazette No. 17/2026, 26 Aug 2026: the Chief Electoral Officer's warrant under s.78 of the Electoral Act 2004 declaring the 24 members and each candidate's votes. Single-election document. This '-1' file is a corrected re-upload (posted 26 Aug 2026 23:18:57Z) that relabels seat 23 as 'Pukapuka-Nassau'; the first upload is Gaz-Public-Notice-Declaration-of-Result-of-Poll.pdf (21:27:39Z). The Electoral Office has no website of its own. Its notices appear only in the Gazette, which is hosted on the Parliament site and embedded on https://parliament.gov.ck/by-election/ (checked 2026-09-25).",
            "check": null
          },
          {
            "url": "https://parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Cook-Islands-Parliamentary-Election-2026-1.pdf",
            "role": "results-live",
            "kind": "other",
            "kindReason": "election page without a results marker",
            "resolvable": false,
            "origin": "race",
            "note": "'Cook Islands Parliamentary Election 2026 – Preliminary count of Votes', per candidate. Posted on the Parliament site on 14 Aug 2026 (23:22Z). An earlier version, Cook-Islands-Parliamentary-Election-2026.pdf, was posted on 13 Aug (22:14Z). Neither version is dated or signed, and on 25 Sep 2026 neither was linked from the elections page. These are static PDFs, not a live feed.",
            "check": null
          },
          {
            "url": "https://parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gazette-Public-Notice-1-Announcement-of-Election.pdf",
            "role": "timetable",
            "kind": "other",
            "kindReason": "election page without a results marker",
            "resolvable": false,
            "origin": "race",
            "note": "Gazette 07/2026, 26 Jun 2026, Public Notice 1 by the Chief Electoral Officer under ss.30(2), 31(1) and 111(b) of the Electoral Act 2004: Wednesday 12 August 2026 is 'the day appointed by the King's Representative' for the election. Nominations closed on 13 Jul 2026 at noon. Also see Gazette 5/14/2026, 11 Aug 2026 (Gaz-Public-Notice-Nassau-Island-Delayed-Voting.pdf): bad weather adjourned the Nassau poll to Thursday 13 Aug 2026, 2–6 pm, and Pukapuka voted 9 am–6 pm on 12 Aug.",
            "check": null
          },
          {
            "url": "https://parliament.gov.ck/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Electoral-No.-11.pdf",
            "role": "timetable",
            "kind": "other",
            "kindReason": "election page without a results marker",
            "resolvable": false,
            "origin": "race",
            "note": "Electoral Act 2004 (No. 11), as enacted (scanned PDF). s.49: polls open 9 a.m. and close 6 p.m. s.68: postal votes must arrive before the close of poll. ss.74 and 71: the preliminary count, including postal votes. ss.76–77: scrutiny of the rolls, then the final count. s.78: the Chief Electoral Officer 'shall, by warrant under his or her hand, publicly declare' the result. No deadline applies. s.79: a candidate may apply for a recount within three working days of the declaration. s.92: an election petition must be filed within seven days after the declaration. s.104: the Court certifies the petition's result to the CEO. We did not check amendments made after 2004.",
            "check": null
          },
          {
            "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Cook_Islands_general_election",
            "role": "see-also",
            "kind": "other",
            "kindReason": "election page without a results marker",
            "resolvable": false,
            "origin": "race",
            "check": null
          },
          {
            "url": "https://parliament.gov.ck/by-election/",
            "role": "results-index",
            "kind": "other",
            "kindReason": "no election or results marker",
            "resolvable": false,
            "origin": "authority",
            "check": null
          }
        ],
        "page_activity": [],
        "government": {
          "earliestUtc": "2026-08-26T10:00:00Z",
          "precedentDays": [
            11
          ],
          "note": "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."
        },
        "url": "https://electionindex.org/election/cook-islands-general-2026#parliament"
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "dataset_version": "2026-09-25.d34ce25d",
    "built_at": "2026-09-25T15:34:57Z",
    "generated_at": "2026-09-25T18:34:30.516Z",
    "licence": "CC BY 4.0: credit \"Election Index (electionindex.org)\" and link to https://electionindex.org",
    "docs": "https://electionindex.org/docs"
  }
}