Jim Marurai

Jim Marurai
8th Prime Minister of the Cook Islands
In office 14 December 2004 – 29 November 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Representative	Frederick Tutu Goodwin
Preceded by	Robert Woonton
Succeeded by	Henry Puna
Personal details
Born	9 July 1947 Mangaia
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Tuaine Marurai (deceased)

Jim Marurai (born 9 July 1947) is a Cook Islands politician and former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Marurai was born in Mangaia. He attended Ivirua and Oneroa Primary school and then Tereora College on Rarotonga and Napier Boys' High School in New Zealand. He later studied at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Marurai's wife, Tuaine Marurai, died on 14 September 2005 in Auckland, New Zealand at the age of 56 after suffering from cancer. She was buried on her home island of Mangaia.

Marurai was first elected to Parliament in a by-election in 1994. He served as an opposition backbencher until June 1999, when he was appointed to the coalition Cabinets of Geoffrey Henry and Joe Williams. Following the election of a Democratic Party 1999 election he served in the Cabinet of Terepai Maoate. Following Maoate's ousting in February 2002 he continued to serve as a Minister under Robert Woonton.

Marurai was elected Prime Minister in December 2004 after Woonton resigned in the wake of the 2004 election. Due to internal disputes, he left the Democrats in 2005 to form the Cook Islands First Party, governing in coalition with the Cook Islands Party. This agreement later broke down, and he formed a new coalition with the Democrats. He returned to the Democrats before the 2006 elections, remaining Prime Minister but not becoming party leader.

In May 2006, Marurai had a private audience and courtesy call with Emperor Akihito of Japan at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Marurai visit was part of the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM 2006), which was held in Okinawa on 26–27 May 2006.

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