Manihiki is a Cook Islands electoral division returning one member to the Cook Islands Parliament. Its current representative is Henry Puna, who has held the seat since 2010.
The electorate consists of the island of Manihiki.
Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.
| Name | Party | Elected | Left Office | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Ellis | Cook Islands Party | 1983 (Mar) | 1983 (Nov) | Defeated |
| Ben Toma | Democrat | 1983 (Nov), 1989 | 1994 | Unknown |
| Robert Woonton | Democrat | 1994, 1999 | 2004 | Resigned after tie in 2004 |
| Henry Puna | Cook Islands Party | 2005 byelection | 2006 | Defeated |
| Apii Piho | Democrat | 2006 | 2010 | Defeated |
| Henry Puna | Cook Islands Party | 2010 | (incumbent) | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Apii Piho | 115 | 51.1 | ||
| Cook Islands | Henry Puna | 110 | 48.9 | ||
| Turnout | 225 | 100.0 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook Islands | Henry Puna | 120 | 54.5% | ||
| Democratic | Apii Piho | 100 | 45.5% | ||
| Turnout | 220 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Robert Woonton | 142 | 50.7 | ||
| Cook Islands | Henry Puna | 138 | 49.3 | ||
| Turnout | 280 | 100.0 | |||
Robert Woonton is a Cook Islands politician and diplomat. He served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from 11 February 2002 until 11 December 2004, and later as High Commissioner to New Zealand. He was a member of the centrist Democratic Party.
Manihiki is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands known informally as the "Island of Pearls". It is located in the Northern Cook Island chain, approximately 1,299 kilometres (807 mi) north of the capital island of Rarotonga, making it one of the most remote inhabitations in the Pacific Ocean. Its name has two possible meanings: It is believed that the original name of the island was Manuhiki, or Manuhikitanga inspired by the aboriginal discoverers, Manu coming from the word Rua Manu and Hiki meaning ashore, so the literal translation would be canoe carried ashore. The second interpretation is that the original discoverers were from Manihi, an island in Tuamotus, so the name of the island would mean Little Manihi.
General elections were held in the Cook Islands on 7 September 2004. Initial results showed the Democratic Party winning by a wide margin, but close results led to 11 electoral petitions being filed, delaying the date Parliament could sit until mid-December. In the interim, Prime Minister Robert Woonton announced that he was forming a coalition government with the rival Cook Islands Party. This led to a split within the Democrats, with Woonton and four other MPs leaving to form the Demo Tumu Party. With 14 MPs, the coalition had a comfortable majority in Parliament.
Rakahanga-Manihiki is a Tahitic language belonging to the Polynesian language family, spoken by about 2500 people on Rakahanga and Manihiki Islands and another 2500 in other countries, mostly New Zealand and Australia. Wurm and Hattori consider Rakahanga-Manihiki as a distinct language with "limited intelligibility with Rarotongan". According to the New Zealand Maori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa who spent a few days on Rakahanga in the years 1920, "the language is a pleasing dialect and has closer affinities with [New Zealand] Maori than with the dialects of Tongareva, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands"
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Tereapii (Apii) Piho is a Cook Islands politician and former Cabinet Minister.
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