Robert Wigmore

Who is Robert Wigmore?

Robert George Wigmore was a Cook Islands politician and former Deputy Prime Minister of the Cook Islands and Cabinet Minister. He was leader of the Cook Islands Democratic Party.

Wigmore was born on Rarotonga. He was educated in Titikaveka, and worked as a farmer. In 1985 he was elected President of the Cook Islands Producers Federation. He was first elected to Parliament as a Democratic Party candidate for the seat of Titikaveka at the 1999 election. He served as an under-secretary to Prime Minister Robert Woonton before being appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture in November 2002. At the 2004 election he apparently won his seat on the night, but the result was overturned three months later by an electoral petition. In the intervening period there was a leadership dispute within the Democratic party, in which Wigmore remained neutral.

In 2005, in a further ruling on the 2004 electoral petition, the Cook Islands Court of Appeal upheld a High Court finding that Wigmore had bribed piggery owners in his electorate in an effort to gain their vote.

At the 2006 election, Wigmore's election in the seat of Titikaveka was declared invalid by an electoral petition. He was re-elected in a by-election on 7 February 2007.