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All 12 seats in the Parliament of Tuvalu | |||||||||||||
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 Tuvaluportal |
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 27 September 1989. [1] Bikenibeu Paeniu was elected prime minister following the elections and formed a five-member cabinet composed largely of opponents of the previous prime minister Tomasi Puapua. [2]
As there were no political parties, all candidates for the twelve seats ran as independents. The Nui constituency was contested by four members of the same family. [3] Bikenibeu Paeniu was the only candidate in Nukulaelae and was elected unopposed. [3]
For the first time, a woman was elected, with Naama Maheu Latasi winning one of the seats on Nanumea. Her husband Kamuta Latasi was elected in Funafuti. [3] In Nui Minister for Commerce and Natural Resources Lale Seluka was defeated by his brother Alesana Seluka. [3]
| Party | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independents | 12 | 0 | |
| Total | 12 | 0 | |
| Source: Nohlen et al. | |||
Following the elections Kokea Malua was elected Speaker and Bikenibeu Paeniu elected prime minister. Paeniu subsequently formed a five-member cabinet, keeping the Foreign Affairs and Economic Planning portfolios for himself. Alesana Seluka became deputy prime minister and Minister of Finance and Commerce, Naama Maheu Latasi was appointed Minister of Health, Education and Community Affairs, Ionatana Ionatana as Minister of Works and Communications and Tomu Sione as Minister of Natural Resources and Home Affairs. [3]
The politics of Tuvalu takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the monarch is the head of state, represented by the governor-general, while the prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government.
Ionatana Ionatana, CVO OBE CPM, was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. He represented the constituency of Funafuti in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He was the fifth prime minister, and foreign minister, from 27 April 1999 until his death on 8 December 2000.
Sir Tomasi Puapua is a political figure who represented Vaitupu in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He attended the Fiji School of Medicine and the Otago University Medical School. He married Riana Puapua.
Tuvalu elects a legislature on a national level. The Parliament of Tuvalu has 16 members, elected for a four-year term in 8 double-seat constituencies. Tuvalu is a de facto non-partisan democracy since it does not have political parties. The political system is based on personal alliances and loyalties derived from clan and family connections. It does tend to have both a distinct government and a distinct opposition. The 16 members of the current parliament are elected from eight two-seat constituencies via plurality block voting.
Bikenibeu Paeniu, PC is a politician from Tuvalu. He represented the constituency of Nukulaelae in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He has served twice as the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, and now serving as Tuvaluan ambassador to Taiwan since June 2022.
Sir Tomu Malaefone Sione,, was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. He worked as a journalist from 1962 to 1968, and held the post of radio announcer in the Broadcasting and Information Department of the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC). He was the head of the southern Niutao clan. He was married to Segali.
Sir Kamuta Latasi is a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu from Funafuti atoll. He was elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu in 1992. Latasi served as the 4th prime minister, and foreign minister, from 1993 until 1996. He has served as the Speaker of parliament from 2006 to September 2010 and again from December 2010 to March 2014.
Naama Maheu Latasi, Lady Latasi, OBE was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. She stood for election in the constituency of Nanumea in 1989 and was elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu. Lady Latasi served as Minister of Health, Education and Community Services in the first Government of Prime Minister of Tuvalu Bikenibeu Paeniu. She was the first female member of parliament in Tuvaluan history. An amazing feat, that served to both pave the way for other aspiring female members of parliament today, but propelled the movement of gender equality. She served in Parliament from 1989 to 1997. Although she was not re-elected in the first 1993 general election but regained her seat in parliament in the second 1993 general election.
The Cabinet of Tuvalu is the executive branch of the government of Tuvalu.
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 8 September 1981. Voter turnout was 85%.
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 2 September 1993. As there were no political parties, all candidates for the twelve seats ran as independents. Prime Minister Bikenibeu Paeniu was re-elected, along with all members of his cabinet, except Naama Latasi. However, supporters of Paeniu held six seats while supporters of the previous Prime Minister Tomasi Puapua held the other six.
Early general elections were held in Tuvalu on 25 November 1993, after the previous elections in September had resulted in a deadlock in Parliament, with supporters of incumbent and former Prime Ministers Bikenibeu Paeniu and Tomasi Puapua holding an equal number of seats.
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 26 March 1998.
A by-election was held in the Nui constituency in Tuvalu on 24 August 2011. It was triggered by the death of the incumbent, MP Isaia Italeli, the Minister for Works, who died quite suddenly in late July while in Samoa on government business. Although there are no political parties in Tuvalu, Members of Parliament align themselves with the government or with the Opposition, and Italeli's death had resulted in Prime Minister Willy Telavi's government losing its one-seat majority in Parliament. The by-election was thus highly important to the government's survival.
Pelenike Tekinene Isaia served in the Parliament of Tuvalu from 2011 to 2015. Before her election as an MP she worked for the Tuvalu Cooperative Society, as its branch manager in Nui.
Kokea Malua is a politician from Tuvalu. He has served in the Parliament of Tuvalu on numerous occasions representing the electorate of Nanumea.
Otinielu Tauteleimalae Tausi is a politician from Tuvalu for the constituency of Nanumanga. He served as the speaker of the Parliament of Tuvalu from 2003 until 2006, then again from March 2014 onward, and has also been the deputy prime minister of Tuvalu.
Puakena Boreham is an anaesthetist who became a Tuvaluan politician, when she was elected to represent Nui in the 2015 Tuvaluan general election. She was not re-elected in the 2024 Tuvaluan general election.
Alesana Kleis Seluka is medical doctor by profession and is the Chairman of the Public Service Commission of Tuvalu. He represented the constituency of Nui in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He served as the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning from 1996 until 1999, and Minister of Health from 2001 to 2006 and held other Cabinet posts.
The Minister of Finance of Tuvalu heads the Ministry of Finance of Tuvalu.
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