Vanuatu is a democracy, whose political culture is different from that in most Western democracies, with strong elements of clientelism, corruption, and political debate that focuses strongly on the distribution of resources among communities. Governments typically comprise coalitions of numerous small parties which change regularly, with parties and MPs "crossing the floor" and prime ministers frequently being ousted in motions of no confidence.
Major political issues in Vanuatu include: customary land rights, foreign investment and the sale of citizenship to foreigners, infrastructure development, recognition of West Papua, response to natural disasters and climate change, the tackling of instability and corruption, and the safeguarding of the country's cultural heritage.
The constitution created a republican political system headed by a president who has primarily ceremonial powers and is elected by a two-thirds majority in an electoral college consisting of members of Parliament and the presidents of Regional Councils. The president serves a 5-year term. The president may be removed by the electoral college for gross misconduct or incapacity.
The prime minister, who is the head of government, is elected by an absolute majority of the Parliament. The prime minister in turn appoints the Council of Ministers, whose number may not exceed a quarter of the number of parliamentary representatives. The prime minister and the Council of Ministers constitute the executive government.
Attorney General of Vanuatu
The post of Attorney General existed even before Vanuatu declared its independence in 1980. One of the last Attorneys General of New Hebrides (Vanuatu's former name), Paul Julian Treadwell (c.1973-1977), even advocated for Vanuatu's independence.[1][2]
Upon the country's declaration of independence in 1980, it was established that the Attorney General of Vanuatu is the principal legal officer for the government of Vanuatu.[3] The duties, functions, and powers of the Attorney General are outlined in the Republic of Vanuatu's State Law Office Act [242].[4] The Attorney General may participate in the meetings and deliberations of the Council of Ministers so as to offer legal advice, but does not have any voting rights nor is designated as a member.
The Solicitor General of Vanuatu supervises and conducts government litigation in court. They also provides legal representation in the absence of the Attorney General of Vanuatu.[23] As with the Attorney General, the duties, functions, and powers of the Solicitor General are outlined in the Republic of Vanuatu's State Law Office Act [242].[4]
Although former President of VanuatuKalkot Mataskelekele[24] has been identified as the first Ni-Vanuatu male to serve as the Solicitor General of Vanuatu, his service years are uncertain.
*He served as the Acting Attorney General until Samson Endehipa assumed office as the Attorney General of Vanuatu.
Legislative branch
Parliament or Parlement has 52 members, elected for a four-year term in multi-seat constituencies. The president is elected for a five-year term by the parliament. Parliament normally sits for a 4-year term unless dissolved by majority vote of a three-fourths quorum or a directive from the President on the advice of the prime minister. The national Council of Chiefs, called the Malvatu Mauri and elected by district councils of chiefs, advises the government on all matters concerning ni-Vanuatu culture and language.
Vanuatu has a multi-party system of government. In the decades after independence, the English-oriented Vanua'aku Party and the French-oriented Union of Moderate Parties fragmented into numerous smaller parties, defined increasingly by personality politics rather than ideology. These have been joined by newly formed parties such as the Land and Justice Party with a strong indigenous identity.
The political culture is based around clientelism, with MPs having 'allocations' of money to spend on their constituents, and voters judging candidates primarily on their ability to bring resources into their communities rather than on national policy positions.
Though bribery is not common in everyday life in Vanuatu, its political system is widely perceived as extremely corrupt.[33] However, as of 2018, Vanuatu enacted new legislation in order to improve access to information, opening up the government to better accountability and citizen participation. These changes have improved Vanuatu's ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index.[34]
There are no female MPs in the 2012-2016 parliament, and in general no female chiefs (though in some traditional Vanuatu cultures there are systems under which women can be accorded high rank).
The Supreme Court of Vanuatu is the superior court in Vanuatu; it consists of a chief justice and up to three other judges. Two or more members of this court may constitute a Court of Appeal. Magistratecourts handle most routine legal matters. The legal system is based on British and French law. The constitution also provides for the establishment of village or island courts presided over by chiefs to deal with questions of customary law.
Political history
Historically, government and society in Vanuatu tend to divide along linguistic - French and English - lines. However, this division has become blurred in recent years due to the fragmentation of political parties and the evolution of a post-independence national identity. Political alliances in Vanuatu today are unstable and driven mostly by electoral convenience rather than ideology.
Originally, English-speaking politicians such as Walter Lini, Donald Kalpokas, and other leaders of the Vanua'aku Pati favored early independence, whereas French-speaking political leaders favored continuing association with the colonial administrators, particularly France. On the eve of independence in 1980, Jimmy Stevens' Nagriamel movement, in alliance with private French interests, declared the island of Espiritu Santo independent of the new government. Following independence, Vanuatu requested assistance from Papua New Guinea, whose forces restored order on Santo. From then until 1991, the Vanua'aku Pati and its predominantly English-speaking leadership controlled the Vanuatu Government.
In December 1991, and following a split in the Vanua'aku Pati, Maxime Carlot Korman, leader of the Francophone Union of Moderate Parties (UMP), was elected Vanuatu's first Francophone prime minister. He formed a coalition government with Walter Lini's breakaway VP faction, now named the National United Party (NUP).
Following parliamentary elections on November 30, 1995, Carlot Korman was succeeded by Serge Vohor, a dissident UMP leader. Over the next 2 years, government leadership changed several times due to unstable coalitions within the Parliament. In November 1997, the President dissolved Parliament. Following the subsequent election on March 6, 1998, Donald Kalpokas, the leader of the Vanua'aku Pati, was elected prime minister.
A vote of no confidence in November 1999 brought Barak Sopé to the fore as prime minister. Yet another vote of no confidence resulted in the selection of Edward Natapei as prime minister in March 2001. Edward Natapei returned as prime minister in the May 2002 national parliamentary elections.
In 2004, Natapei dissolved parliament, and following another national election in July of that year, Vohor became prime minister again when two members of the Vanu'aku Party defected to join a new coalition. Vohor was criticised over the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, and on December 11, Vohor was replaced as prime minister by Ham Lini in a Motion of No Confidence.
In March 2004 the term of office of President John Bani expired, and Alfred Maseng Nalo was elected in his place. It was soon discovered that Nalo was a criminal and, at the time of his election, was serving a two-year suspended sentence for aiding and abetting, misappropriation, and receiving money dishonestly after money from the sale of cocoa went missing. Had his conviction been known at the time of the election, Nalo's candidature would automatically have been invalid. The electoral commission which supervises candidates and conducts background checks on candidates did not detect the conviction because the police-issued certificate of previous offences had allegedly been completed incorrectly (Port Vila Presse Online, 28 April 2004). Nalo refused to resign, but the Supreme Court ordered his removal from office in May 2004, and the decision was subsequently confirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Following the 2008 parliamentary elections, the governing coalition was maintained, but Ham Lini was replaced as prime minister by Edward Natapei.
Edward Nipake Natapei Tuta Fanua`araki was a Vanuatuan politician. He was the prime minister of Vanuatu on two occasions, and was previously the minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in 1991, the acting president of Vanuatu from 2 March 1999 to 24 March 1999 and the deputy prime minister. He was the president of the Vanua'aku Pati, a socialist, Anglophone political party.
Rialuth Serge Vohor is a Vanuatuan politician. He hails from the largest island of Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, from Port Olry.
Ham Lin̄i Vanuaroroa is a ni-Vanuatu politician. He is a former MP from Pentecost Island in Penama Province. He was Prime Minister of Vanuatu from 11 December 2004 until 22 September 2008, and is the current Deputy Prime Minister since 16 May 2014. Lin̄i is the brother of Walter Lin̄i, one of the founders of the modern Republic of Vanuatu. Ham Lin̄i is the current leader of the National United Party (VNUP).
Meltek Sato Kilman Livtuvanu is a Vanuatuan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Vanuatu on four previous occasions, most recently from 4 September to 6 October 2023. he was previously prime minister from December 2010 to April 2011, from May to June 2011 and June 2015 to February 2016, though his premiership was subsequently annulled by a court of law.
The Vanua'aku Pati is a democratic socialist political party in Vanuatu.
The National United Party is a political party in Vanuatu. It was founded by Vanuatu's independence leader Walter Lini when he broke away from the Vanua'aku Pati, alongside businessman Đinh Văn Thân. It is a social democratic party which traditionally received most of its support from English speakers.
The Union of Moderate Parties is a liberal political party in Vanuatu founded in 1981. At the last general election, held on 22 January 2016, they won 9.73% of the vote and 6 seats. It is currently headed by Ishmael Kalsakau.
Donald Masike'Vanua Kalpokas was a Vanuatuan politician and diplomat who twice served as Prime Minister of Vanuatu.
Maxime Carlot Korman is a Vanuatuan politician, formerly serving as the speaker of the Parliament and formerly as acting president. He served as the prime minister of Vanuatu for nearly five years, first from 16 December 1991 to 21 December 1995 and again from 23 February 1996 to 30 September 1996. He was a member of the Union of Moderate Parties during his terms as prime minister, but now leads the Vanuatu Republican Party. He was the first Speaker of Parliament after independence, from July 1980 to November 1983, and also served in that capacity just before independence.
General elections were held in Vanuatu on 6 July 2004. The Vanua'aku Pati–Vanuatu National United Party coalition won the most seats, but failed to gain a majority, which instead was cobbled together by Serge Vohor of the Union of Moderate Parties, who became Prime Minister, subsequently forming a national unity government.
General elections were held in Vanuatu on 2 September 2008. In July the Melanesian Progressive Party requested that they be postponed, contesting the constitutionality of the Peoples Representation Act No. 33 of 2007, which allegedly enabled voters in certain constituencies to vote in two constituencies. The Principal Electoral Officer, Martin Tete, confirmed that the election would take place on 2 September, as scheduled. The day was declared a national holiday, to encourage people to vote.
Joe Natuman is a Vanuatuan politician of the Vanua'aku Pati and former Prime Minister of Vanuatu.
Jean-Marie Léyé Lenelgau was a Vanuatuan politician and the president of Vanuatu from 2 March 1994 to 2 March 1999.
General elections were held in Vanuatu on 30 November 1987. Ni-Vanuatu voters were invited to elect the 46 members of an expanded national Parliament, which had previously held 39 seats.
The Cabinet of Vanuatu is the cabinet of the government of the Republic of Vanuatu.
Harry Iaris Iauko was a Ni-Vanuatu politician. He was a Member of Parliament for Tanna, representing the Vanua'aku Pati, from 2008 until his death.
The prime minister of Vanuatu is the head of government of the Republic of Vanuatu.
Paul Barthelemy Telukluk is a Vanuatuan politician.
General elections were held in Vanuatu on 30 October 2012. The previous elections to the 52-member Parliament of Vanuatu were held in 2008. The largest parties in this election were the socialist Vanua'aku Party, which won 11 seats, and the social-democratic National United Party. Thirteen other parties as well as four independents won parliamentary seats. As a result, Edward Natapei of the Vanua'aku Party was able to become the Prime Minister. Since then, both Serge Vohor of the conservative Union of Moderate Parties and Sato Kilman of the People's Progressive Party have held that position, with Kilman being the incumbent Prime Minister of Vanuatu at the time of the 2012 election.
Legislative by-elections were held in Vanuatu on 12 December 1988 and 28 November 1989 to fill twenty-three vacant seats, including twenty-two made vacant by a political crisis.
↑ Saunders, Cheryl; Hassall, Graham (1997). Asia-Pacific Constitutional Yearbook. Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, University of Melbourne.
Andreas Holtz: Nation-Building und die Frage nach Souveränität im Südpazifik vor dem Hintergrund der politischen Geschichte der Republik Vanuatu. Münster/Hamburg/London 2003. ISBN3-8258-6413-8. (in German)
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