Cook Islands PM's party secures narrow majority in preliminary count

Preliminary results from the Cook Islands general election indicate that Prime Minister Mark Brown's Cook Islands Party is set to retain control of parliament, having secured 12 of the 24 seats. The count, released via Radio Cook Islands' Facebook page, gives the ruling party the slimmest possible majority, though final results await the completion of voting on the remote island of Nassau.

Voting on Nassau, a small northern atoll, was postponed due to adverse weather that disrupted transport and polling arrangements. The vote is now expected to take place on Thursday local time, according to Radio New Zealand.

The election process is logistically challenging in the Cook Islands, a nation of about 15,000 people spread across 15 islands, particularly in the remote northern group.

The election comes amid a delicate phase in the Cook Islands' relationship with New Zealand, with which it is in free association. Cook Islanders hold New Zealand citizenship, and Wellington has traditionally handled defence and foreign affairs, though the self-governing territory manages its own domestic policy and has expanded its international engagement.

Tensions arose when Brown's government signed agreements with China without prior consultation with New Zealand, raising concerns in Wellington about Beijing's growing influence in the Pacific. New Zealand subsequently paused some funding to the Cook Islands, but the two nations signed a defence and security declaration in April to strengthen cooperation, and funding has since resumed.

Brown has also championed the development of an undersea mining industry, citing the potential for commercially valuable polymetallic nodules within the Cook Islands' vast exclusive economic zone. However, environmental groups and some Pacific leaders have urged caution, warning that deep-sea mining could cause irreversible harm to poorly understood marine ecosystems.