Rakahanga is a Cook Islands electoral division returning one member to the Cook Islands Parliament. Its current representative is Democrat Piho Rua, who has held the seat since 2004.
The electorate consists of the island of Rakahanga.
Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.
| Name | Party | Elected | Left Office | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupuke Robati | Independent | 1965, 1968 | - | Joined new party |
| Pupuke Robati | Democrat | 1972, 1974, 1978, 1983 (Mar), 1983 (Nov), 1989, 1994, 1999 | 2004 | Defeated |
| Piho Rua | Independent | 2004, 2006 | 2010 | Retired |
| Taunga Toka | Democrat | 2010 | (incumbent) | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Taunga Toka | 27 | 56.3 | ||
| Cook Islands | Toka Hagai | 21 | 43.8 | ||
| Turnout | 48 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Piho Rua | 42 | 60.0 | ||
| Democratic | David Alepha Greig | 28 | 40.0 | ||
| Turnout | 70 | 94.6 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Piho Rua | 42 | 56.8 | ||
| Democratic | Pupuke Robati | 32 | 43.2 | ||
| Turnout | 74 | 89.2 | |||
The Cook Islands are named after Captain James Cook, who visited the islands in 1773 and 1777, although Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendaña was the first European to reach the islands in 1595. The Cook Islands became aligned to the United Kingdom in 1890, largely because of the fear of British residents that France might occupy the islands as it already had Tahiti.
Rakahanga is part of the Cook Islands, situated in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. The unspoilt atoll is 1,248 kilometres from the Cook Islands' capital, Rarotonga, and lies 1,111 kilometres south of the equator. Its nearest neighbour is Manihiki which is just 44 kilometres away. Rakahanga's area is 4 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi). Its highest point is approximately 5 metres above sea level. The population was 83 in the 2016 Census of Population & Dwellings, with a density ratio of 32 people per square kilometer. Since 2014 Rakahanga's electricity has been 100% solar generated. The Rakahanga-Manihiki language differs from Cook Islands Maori.
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"
General elections were held in the Cook Islands on 20 April 1965 to elect 22 MPs to the Cook Islands Legislative Assembly. The elections were won by the Cook Islands Party and saw Albert Henry become the Cook Islands' first Premier.
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Piho Rua is a Cook Islands politician and former member of the Cook Islands Parliament.
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