A petition calling for changes to the Cook Islands political system has been presented to parliament.
MP Norman George, who presented the petition on behalf of the Group for Political Change, says parliamentarians should take note of the petition and not treat it as a threat or a standoff by the petitioners.
He says the people of the Cook islands have spoken and political disaster awaits those who ignore the petition.
The document has been signed by 2010 voters in Rarotonga and the southern islands group - which represents about a quarter of all eligible voters in the Cook Islands.
A bill to recognise Cook Islands Maori as an official language made way for the presentation of the petition.
Presently, only English is recognised as the official language of the Cook Islands.
