The Cook Islands Legislative Assembly was established on October 25th, 1957 by the New Zealand Parliament. Under the Cook Islands Amendment Act 1957 (Public Act No 103, Date of assent: 25 October 1957), the Legislative Council is reorganized by the New Zealand Parliament as the Legislative Assembly with 22 elected Members and 4 appointed Officials.
Fifteen of the Members were to be elected directly by secret ballot, and seven were to be elected by the Island Councils. The very first General Election by universal suffrage in the Cook Islands was scheduled for October 13, 1958 to elect 27 Members to the new Legislative Assembly.
The Members of Parliament are elected by secret ballot on a “first-past the post” universal suffrage system. In 1980-81, the Constitution was amended by redefining the Constituencies, thus increasing the number of Members to 24.
This was refined in 1991 where another Constituency in Rarotonga was further divided into two to reflect a 25 Members of Parliament. The status quo remained until 2003 when the Overseas Constituency that was created under the 1980-81 Constitution Amendment, was abolished.
