Pitcairn Islands general election, 2004
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An election was held in the Pitcairn Islands, the last remaining British dependency in Oceania, to elect a Mayor, a Council Chairman, and four Councillors to sit on the Island Council. (The six elected members of the Council, including the Mayor and the Council Chairman, both of whom hold membership ex officio, will co-opt a seventh member; the British Governor will appoint two more, and the non-elected Island Secretary will hold office ex-officio).
For the Mayoralty (the chief executive position), Jay Warren (a former longtime Magistrate, as the Mayor's office was known prior to 1999) defeated the incumbent Mayor Brenda Christian, who had held the office since 8 November in an interim capacity following Governor Richard Fell's dismissal of her brother, Steve Christian, on 29 October following his five rape convictions.
The Chairmanship of the Council was won by Mike Warren. The four ordinary Councillors to be elected were Meralda Warren (Jay Warren's sister), Olive Christian (wife of convicted former Mayor Steve Christian), Carol Warren and Lea Brown. All were elected on a secret, nonpartisan ballot (there are no political parties in the territory) by the 35 Pitcairners of voting age. By tradition, statistical details of the vote were not revealed.
Speaking from his British High Commission office in Wellington, New Zealand, Deputy Governor Matthew Forbes told Radio New Zealand that he welcomed Jay Warren's election as Mayor. "We appointed Jay as chairman of the (island's) internal committee in the period after the trials and before this election," Forbes said. "He's very experienced and I'm sure he'll make a very good mayor."
