The Most Famous
POLITICIANS from Cook Islands
This page contains a list of the greatest Cook Islander Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 19,576 Politicians, 3 of which were born in Cook Islands. This makes Cook Islands the birth place of the 199th most number of Politicians behind Liechtenstein, and Macao.
Top 3
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Cook Islander Politicians of all time. This list of famous Cook Islander Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Jim Marurai (1947 - 2020)
With an HPI of 43.90, Jim Marurai is the most famous Cook Islander Politician. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.
Jim Marurai (9 July 1947 – November 2020) was a Cook Islands politician who served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
2. Joe Williams (1934 - 2020)
With an HPI of 42.27, Joe Williams is the 2nd most famous Cook Islander Politician. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Joseph Williams (4 October 1934 – 4 September 2020) was a Cook Islands politician and physician who served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands for four months in 1999. He is credited with having worked to prevent the spread of the tropical disease lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis). He principally resided in Auckland, New Zealand, where he was medical director of the Mt Wellington Integrated Family Health Centre.
3. Henry Puna (b. 1949)
With an HPI of 40.22, Henry Puna is the 3rd most famous Cook Islander Politician. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Henry Tuakeu Puna (born 29 July 1949) is a Cook Islands politician. He most recently served as the secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum from May of 2021 to 2024. He was Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from November 2010 to October 2020. Since 2006 he has been leader of the Cook Islands Party. Puna was elected to the Parliament of the Cook Islands at the 2005 Manihiki by-election. He lost his seat at the 2006 election, but regained it in the CIP victory at the 2010 election which saw him elected prime minister. During his time as prime minister, he held various ministerial portfolios, including Foreign affairs, Marine Resources, and Energy. In June 2020 Puna announced his intention to stand down as prime minister in September to compete for the role of secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum. He stepped down from office on 1 October 2020. On 4 February 2021 he was elected as secretary-general, replacing Meg Taylor.
People
Pantheon has 3 people classified as Cook Islander politicians born between 1934 and 1949. Of these 3, 1 (33.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Cook Islander politicians include Henry Puna. The most famous deceased Cook Islander politicians include Jim Marurai, and Joe Williams.
