Luganville MP, Kalvao Moli swearing in – Photo Credit: Daily Post

Luganville MP, Kalvao Moli swearing in – Photo Credit: Daily Post

Prime Minister Sato Kilman has regained control of the government he previously outwitted the opposition to run on November 19. It follows yet another clever move last week to reshuffle his Agriculture minister Dunstan Hilton—replacing the incumbent with independent Luganville MP, Kalvao Moli. Moli was initially with the opposition.

Kilman defeated the motion by 27 votes to 23 (one abstention)—restoring some confidence in his leadership after the opposition boycotted the first ordered session last Friday.

The result means Kilman can enjoy the upcoming festive season with little to worry about.

But bringing on another independent MP though, means his own party— the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), has had to make the sacrifice by giving up a portfolio in order to keep the government intact. The reshuffle also means all nine parties have just one portfolio each, except for the National United Party (NUP) of Deputy Prime Minister Ham Lini, who also have Lands.

The PPP, Nagriamel (NAG) and the Vanuatu Green Confederation (VGC) also run the office of the speaker, holding the positions of Speaker, First Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker respectively.

Last week, parliament was ordered to meet by the Supreme Court after the speaker decided the motion of no confidence was ‘not in order’.

Portfolio sharing

PPP – 1 (PM)

NUP- 2 (DPM/Lands)

VRP- 1 (Ni-Van Business)

NAG- 1 (Civil Aviation)

PSP- 1 (Health)

RMC- 1(Finance)

VGC- 1 (Internal Affairs)

Parliament

PPP-Speaker

NAG- First Deputy Speaker

VGC- Second Deputy Speaker

For a full overview of PM Kilman’s government, you can check out the coalition here.

On Monday November 19, 2012, Sato Kilman was re-elected Prime Minister of Vanuatu, securing a vote count of 29 – 23. He went on to form a coalition, which includes the following Ministers and MPs:

The offering of ministries to parties and individuals has proved to be an effective method of forming coalitions all over the world, and Vanuatu is no exception. Across the 13 ministries on offer in Vanuatu’s 10^th Parliament, 9 different parties and an Independent are represented. This helps to underscore the reasons behind the constitution allowing no more than 13 ministries to exist at any one time. The law, in turn helps explain why the Ministry of Youth and Sports suddenly disappeared yesterday – the creation of a new ministry (Civil Aviation), requiring that another must go.

With former Minister for Youth and Sports, Morgan Stevens Iatika breaking NUP ranks and joining Natapei’s coalition, the abolition of his ministry and creation of another appears to have become the most tempting option for the new government. At this stage, the government has said nothing about whether the Youth and Sports portfolio will be merged with another Ministry such as Education or Justice and Community Services. Morgan Stevens of NUP was not the only one to vote differently to the rest of his party; going the other way, Silas Rouard ignored his UMP colleagues in order to join the government.

As reports last week suggested, NUP appears to have indeed been the ‘King-maker’. If Natapei had managed to convince the rest of NUP to join his team, he would have secured a narrow 27 – 25, vote victory. Another notable aspect of the formation of this government was the absence of any MPs from Port Vila gaining a ministry for the first time since 1979.

34 parties and 63 independents actually…

PiPP reported that 346 candidates, consisting of 32 parties and 65 independents contested the election. However, election results released by the electoral office listed two formerly ‘independent’ candidates as belonging to parties. As it turns out, Hilda Lini represented a party called ‘Universal Ethnic System’ and Micky Joe Mike Macki was in the ‘Vanuatu Freedom Party’. Both of these previously unlisted parties consisted of just the single candidate and neither Ms Lini nor Mr Macki were elected. So, for the sake of accuracy, the 2012 Vanuatu Election appears to have actually been contested by 34 parties and 63 independents.

Decision day

On November 7^th, more than a week after the people of Vanuatu went to the polls, official election results were released. A collection of 16 parties and 4 independents were voted into Parliament, with the largest party securing only 8 of the 52 seats on offer. So, given that at least 27 seats are required to form a coalition government with an absolute majority, obviously this will prove to be an unpredictable and incredibly challenging process. To get an idea of what coalition combinations are possible (and have fun while doing it), check out this coalition builder game on our website.

While it is virtually impossible to guess what the final coalitions will look like, one can get a rough idea by sifting through information in the Vanuatu Daily Post, regional media, Vanuatu Daily Digest and on Facebook groups like ‘Yumi Tok Tok Stret’ and ‘Vanuatu Election Spotlight’. However, what the makeup of coalitions looks like varies depending on whom you ask at what time of the day, and allegiances can be expected to shift right up until the last possible moment on November 19^th.

(more…)

34 parties and 63 independents contested. 16 parties and 4 independents were successful. Two parties, ‘Universal Ethnic System’ and ‘Vanuatu Freedom Party’ were listed as Independents by the electoral office prior to the election.

One of the final activities of the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) for this year has been to try and bridge an apparent knowledge gap between the political parties’ policymaking processes and their voters. The other main aim has been to explore possible avenues for those policies to be canvassed in the open—where everyone could be given a fair chance of articulating what they are standing for, as well as allowing others to put their side, or put up a challenge.

Such a process is particularly useful, even though it is new and unheard of in many Pacific island contexts, especially in getting party leaders and their tacticians to develop the necessary confidence to not only formulate sound policy platforms, but also  to articulate those policies in a logical and coherent manner.

Despite the expected hiccups there is optimism that with time and more awareness, trust can be gained and voters will begin to make informed choices, especially when it comes to choosing their representatives in parliament based on the merits of party policies, and not necessarily through the norms and rules of Kastom (the Bislama term for ‘custom’ – traditional values and practices of Vanuatu), as has been the practice since the early 1990s.
(more…)