The Cooks Islands Parliament is scheduled to sit today for the first time in eight months after being adjourned to prevent a confidence vote. However, it won't sit for long. Instead, the government will table its budget, as it is legally required to do, then adjourn again before putting it to the vote - allowing it to continue on until November without testing whether it holds the confidence of the House and hence a democratic mandate to govern.
This is not democracy. Instead, it is an abuse of the Parliamentary process and a perversion of the Westminster system to maintain an illegitimate government in power (and Ministers in their perks). But its what happens when your Parliament depends on the royal prerogative, rather than its own authority, to meet.
