Andrina Komala Lini Thomas is a politician, researcher, and activist in Vanuatu. Since 2019, she has been the founding secretary-general of the Leleon Vanua Democratic Party, a women's party seeking to close the significant gender gap in Vanuatuan politics. She ran for Parliament in 2020, then as a candidate for president in the 2022 Vanuatuan elections, but was not elected.
Andrina Thomas is descended from the Na Vuhu Sule clan of Matantas Village on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. [1] [2]
She attended the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, graduating with a bachelor's in public administration and, in 2003, an MBA. [1] [3] She later attended the University of Waikato in New Zealand, where she obtained a doctorate in business leadership and governance in 2013. [2] [3] [4] She was the second Ni-Vanuatu woman to earn a doctoral degree. [5] [6]
Thomas has worked for various NGOs and government agencies in Vanuatu. [1] [3] She also represented the government of Vanuatu at international climate conferences. [1]
In May 2015, she was appointed as CEO of the Vanuatuan government's investment arm, the Vanuatu Investment Promotion Authority, becoming the first Ni-Vanuatu woman to hold the position. [1] [3] [7] She was suspended for a period in 2016, but retained the title until 2017. [8] [9]
Thomas has been an activist for women's inclusion and empowerment in Vanuatuan society, and against femicide in the country. [1]
In 2019, the Leleon Vanua Democratic Party was founded as Vanuatu's first woman-led political party, with Thomas as its secretary-general. [4] [7] [10] Its aim was to improve women's representation in Vanuatuan politics; at the time, there were no women in the Parliament of Vanuatu. [10] The party eventually opted not to contest the 2020 election due to a lack of funding, but Thomas and other candidates still ran as independents or representing other parties; in her case, she ran as a candidate for the Oceania Transformation Movement in the Espirito Santo rural constituency. [4] [10] [11] [12] However, none of the female candidates were elected, leaving the Parliament exclusively male. [7] [11]
In 2022, Thomas ran as a candidate for president of Vanuatu from the Leleon Vanua Democratic Party. [13] [9] She lost to Nikenike Vurobaravu. [14] She and Lois Fatu were the only female candidates across a field of a dozen aspirants. [13] [9]
Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an island country in Melanesia, located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 540 km (340 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji.
Vanuatu competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. A total of three Vanuatuan athletes competed in two sports. Moses Kamut and Elis Lapenmal competed in, respectively, the men's and women's 100m sprints, and Priscilla Tommy competed in women's singles table tennis after being selected by the IOC's Tripartite Commission. Tommy's appearance in particular was Vanuatu's debut into table tennis. Tommy was also the country's flagbearer during the opening ceremony. The Vanuatuan delegation to Beijing included the country's head of state and prime minister, but only included Elis Lapenmal; the other two athletes did not accompany the delegation and arrived in China at different times.
Grace Mera Molisa was a Ni-Vanuatu politician, poet and campaigner for women's equality in politics. The Australian described her as "a vanguard for Melanesian culture and a voice of the Vanuatuans, especially women". She has also been described as one of the Pacific's "leading public intellectuals and activists".
The Vanuatu Labour Party is a political party in Vanuatu. The party was established on 3 June 1987. It was founded on the initiative of various trade union organizations in order to contest the 1987 parliamentary election. The proposal to found the party was first presented by Ephraim Kalsakau, a leader of the Vanuatu Municipal Workers Union.
The Vanuatu passport is an international travel document issued to Vanuatu citizens.
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Women in Vanuatu are women who live in or are from Vanuatu. This includes their education, healthcare, political, and economic information.
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General elections were held in Vanuatu on 19–20 March 2020. The elections were initially intended to be held on 19 March, but logistical problems resulted in some areas voting the following day.
Nadia Kanegai is a social entrepreneur, politician and historian from Vanuatu. She made the first study of women's traditional tattooing on Ambae. She has stood as a candidate in three elections in Vanuatu and was a prominent community activist during the 2017 and 2018 eruptions of Manaro Voui.
Litiana Kalsrap is a youth leader and climate activist from Vanuatu. In 2020 she was the youngest woman to contest a seat in the 2020 Vanuatu general election. In 2018 she was a recipient of a Queens Young Leader Award.
On 21–23 July 2022 an election was held indirectly to elect the president of Vanuatu.
Nikenike Vurobaravu is a Vanuatuan diplomat and politician who has served as President of Vanuatu since 23 July 2022. Previously having been employed in numerous diplomatic and government positions, including as the first resident High Commissioner to Fiji, he was elected as president during the eighth round of the 2022 Vanuatuan presidential election in July 2022. He is a member of the Vanua'aku Pati (VP) political party.
Snap general elections were held in Vanuatu on 13 October 2022 to elect all 52 seats in Parliament. President Nikenike Vurobaravu dissolved Parliament in August 2022 on advice of the Council of Ministers ahead of a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Bob Loughman.
The following lists events of the year 2023 in Vanuatu.
John Dahmasing Salong is a Vanuatuan politician and a member of the Parliament of Vanuatu from Ambrym as a member of the Land and Justice Party. He was Minister of Finance from November 2022 to September 2023.
Gloria Julia King is an athlete, businesswoman, and politician in Vanuatu. In 2022, she was elected to the Parliament of Vanuatu. She is only the sixth woman in the country to become a member of Parliament.