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.
The politics of Vanuatu take place within the framework of a constitutional democracy. The constitution provides for a representative parliamentary system. The head of the Republic is an elected president. The prime minister of Vanuatu is the head of government.
Port Vila, or simply Vila, is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate.
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.
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.
Scottish Workers' Representation Committee was the parliamentary outfit of the Scottish Trades Union Congress from 1899 until 1909. It was known as the Scottish Workers Parliamentary Elections Committee until 1903. In contrast to the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in England, SWRC was able to maintain organisational unity between different strands of ideological tendencies in Scotland, ranging from Marxist, Catholic and Fabian socialists.
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.
Ralph John Regenvanu is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet for most of the period from December 2010 to January 2012 and then from March 2013 to June 2015, and was the Director of the Vanuatu National Cultural Council from 1995 until December 2010.
Joshua Tafura Kalsakau is a Vanuatuan politician. In 2005 Kalsakau, then the Minister for Ni-Vanuatu Business and an MP from Efate representing the National Community Association Party, joined the Vanuatu Labour Party. Kalsakau became the president of the VLP.
Ephraim Kalsakau is a ni-Vanuatu trade unionist and politician.
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance in Britain. It was originally launched for the 2010 general election.
The Land and Justice Party is a traditionalist, pro-indigenous and pro-youth political party in Vanuatu. The party was launched on 11 November 2010 and is led by MP Ralph Regenvanu.
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.
A by-election was held in the Tanna constituency in Vanuatu on 27 May 2013. It followed the death of incumbent MP Harry Iauko, who was also the Minister for Infrastructure, Public Utilities and Public Service.
A by-election to the Parliament of Vanuatu was held in the constituency of Port-Vila on 15 October 2015. It followed the death of sitting MP Edward Natapei, of the centre-left Vanua'aku Pati. Natapei died after a long illness in July. Although Port-Vila is a multi-member constituency, only one seat was vacant, and therefore only one new member was elected.
General elections were held in Vanuatu on 22 January 2016. The previous elections occurred in October 2012. The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, dissolved the Parliament of Vanuatu in November 2015. This occurred after the conviction of 14 parliamentarians for bribery. The convicted MPs include former Prime Ministers Serge Vohor and Moana Carcasses Kalosil. The president called for a snap election to form a new government.
The Friend Melanesian Party (FMP) is a political party in Vanuatu. The party is usually seen as close to the Union of Moderate Parties.
Maria Crowby was a politician from Vanuatu. She was a Member of the Parliament of Vanuatu for the Union of Moderate Parties. She was elected in 1987 for the electorate of Port Vila, in the same election as Motarilavoa Hilda Lin̄i; the two women were the first women members of parliament elected in Vanuatu. Crowby lost the seat in 1988.
Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau is a Vanuatuan politician who served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu from 4 November 2022 until 4 September 2023. He is the head of the Union of Moderate Parties in Vanuatu
Several British members of Parliament have been sponsored by mining trade unions. Many were sponsored by the National Union of Mineworkers, its predecessor the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and the local trade unions which preceded it.
