[3] Prior to independence, the party campaigned for the residential qualification for candidates to the Legislative Assembly to be reduced, in order to allow Henry to stand.

[5] The party won a strong majority of 14 seats, which they used to amend the constitution to reduce the residency requirement.

[5] Henry was elected in the subsequent by-election, and became the first Prime Minister of the Cook Islands.

The party dominated Islands politics for the next decade, but lost power at the 1978 elections after it was discovered to have engaged in widespread electoral fraud.

He was subsequently convicted of conspiracy and misuse of public money and stripped of his knighthood.

CIP won the 2010 and 2014 elections, leading to two terms as prime minister for Henry Puna.