Telavi was first elected to parliament in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010.[1] He became prime minister on 24 December 2010 and the Telavi Ministry retained government until August 2013. The refusal of prime minister Telavi to recall the Parliament of Tuvalu after the 2013 Nukufetau by-election resulted in a constitutional crisis when he adopted the position that,under the Constitution of Tuvalu,he was only required to convene parliament once a year,and was thus under no obligation to summon it until December 2013.[2] The opposition then requested the Governor-General of Tuvalu,Sir Iakoba Italeli,to intervene against the Telavi's decision.[3] On 3 July,Governor-General Italeli exercised his reserve powers in ordering parliament to convene,against the prime minister Telavi's wishes,on 30 July.[4] On 1 August 2013 Governor-General Italeli again exercised his reserve powers and dismissed Telavi as Prime Minister of Tuvalu and appointed the opposition leader Enele Sopoaga as Tuvalu's caretaker prime minister.[5] A day later,on 2 August 2013,Telavi's government was successfully brought down through a vote of no confidence in parliament.[6] He resigned from parliament in August 2014.[1][7] He was absent for much of the parliamentary year tending to his sick wife in Hawaii,and he resigned in order to remain at his wife's side.[7]
Background
Telavi is from Nanumea. His career in the Tuvalu police force culminated in his appointment as police commissioner in 1993,a position he held for thirteen years. He earned a degree in legal studies from the University of the South Pacific in 1999 and a master's degree in international management from Northern Territory University in 2000.[8] Willy Telavi was appointed to his current position in May 1993,he has served more than 16 years in various positions with the Tuvalu police force.[8]
Ministerial office
Telavi stood for the Parliament of Tuvalu in 2006 and was elected to serve the constituency of Nanumea. The government of prime minister Apisai Ielemia came to office following the election. Telavi was appointed minister for home affairs in the Ielemia administration.[9]
In December, just four months after the new government took office, Telavi crossed the floor, joined the opposition and enabled it to bring down the government through a motion of no confidence, carrying it by eight votes to seven. The motion was reportedly initiated due to MPs' concerns over certain aspects of the budget, in particular the prospect that the government may no longer fully fund patients' medical costs abroad.[11] On 24 December Telavi was elected as the prime minister, defeating foreign affairs and environment minister Enele Sopoaga by another 8–7 vote.[12] Appointing his cabinet on the same day,[13] he appointed himself to continue as minister for home affairs.[14] (That position was subsequently given to Pelenike Isaia.)[15]
It was under Telavi's premiership that Tuvalu became, in November 2011, a founding member of the Polynesian Leaders Group, a regional grouping intended to co-operate on a variety of issues including culture and language, education, responses to climate change, and trade and investment.[16][17][18]
Under Telavi's leadership, in September 2011, Tuvalu had become one of only six countries to grant diplomatic recognition to Abkhazia as a sovereign state.[19] The two countries, during Telavi's visit, agreed on free movement of each other's citizens between them, without the need for visas. In addition, Telavi was leading a Tuvaluan delegation of electoral monitors for that month's Abkhazian parliamentary election.[19] As a response, Georgia cut off diplomatic relations with Tuvalu.[20]
Telavi delayed calling a by-election after the death of Lotoala Metia, an MP from Nukufetau, until ordered by the High Court to call the by-election.[21][22] On 28 June 2013, the Telavi government lost a crucial by-election in Nukufetau, which gave the opposition a majority of one in parliament. The opposition immediately called for the government to reconvene parliament.[23] Prime Minister Telavi responded that, under the Constitution, he was only required to convene parliament once a year, and was thus under no obligation to summon it until December 2013.[24] The opposition turned to the governor-general, Iakoba Italeli. On 3 July, Italeli exercised his reserve powers in ordering parliament to convene, against the prime minister's wishes, on 30 July.[25]
On that date, as the government was about to face a motion of no confidence, health minister Taom Tanukale unexpectedly resigned from parliament (and thus also from the government) altogether. He was not the first government member to vacate or temporarily leave office: Lotoala Metia had died (and an opposition member had been elected at the resulting by-election), education minister Falesa Pitoi had become ill and had been outside the country since December 2012. Tanukale's resignation therefore left Telavi with only three active government members other than himself: deputy prime minister Kausea Natano, foreign affairs minister Apisai Ielemia, and home affairs minister Pelenike Isaia (there were no government backbenchers). He also had the support of the Speaker.[26]
The following day, the reason for Tanukale's resignation became apparent. The speaker, Kamuta Latasi, rejected the opposition's attempt to table a motion of no confidence, on the grounds that there was now a vacant seat in parliament. Latasi adjourned parliament, and ruled that it would not reconvene until a by-election had been held – thus prolonging Telavi's minority government once more.[27] However, a day later, on 1 August 2013, the governor-general sent out a proclamation removing Telavi as the prime minister of Tuvalu.[5] He was subsequently replaced by opposition leader Enele Sopoaga, who becomes caretaker prime minister.[5] Opposition member Taukelina Finikaso alleged that the prime minister had attempted to remove Sir Iakoba Italeli as governor-general of Tuvalu, prompting Telavi's removal described as 'upholding' the Tuvaluan constitution.[5] His government was successfully removed from office a day later by Parliament, on 2 August 2013.[6]
Willy Telavi defended his actions in not calling the by-election or recalling parliament, and placed the responsibility for the constitution crisis with the governor general, who he says intervened only five days after the by-election, "Though he got the power to do that, we are a small country where we can consult each other without resorting to this kind of exercising of powers".[28]
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.
Maatia Toafa OBE is a Tuvaluan politician, representing Nanumea, who served two non-consecutive terms as Prime Minister of Tuvalu. He first served as prime minister, and foreign minister, from 2004 to 2006, from the resignation of his predecessor, Saufatu Sopoanga, until the defeat of his Cabinet in the 2006 general election. From 2004 to 2006 he also held the role of foreign minister.
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.
The Parliament of Tuvalu is the unicameral national legislature of Tuvalu. The place at which the parliament sits is called the Vaiaku maneapa. The maneapa on each island is an open meeting place where the chiefs and elders deliberate and make decisions.
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.
Apisai Ielemia was a Tuvaluan politician. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2006 to 2010, and also held the role as Foreign Minister. He was returned as a member of parliament in the 2010 Tuvaluan general election. He was re-elected to parliament in the 2015 Tuvaluan general election. On 5 October 2016 Chief Justice Sweeney of the High Court of Tuvalu declared that Ielemia’s parliamentary seat was vacant as he was not qualified to be a member of parliament, as the consequence of the short time the opposition MP served time in jail following his conviction on 6 May 2016 in the Magistrate’s Court of charges of abuse of office during the final year of his term as prime minister. The abuse of office charges related to payments deposited into a National Bank of Tuvalu personal account. The 5 October 2016 decision of the Chief Justice was controversial as it appeared to contradict the June 2016 decision of Justice Norman Franzi of the High Court of Tuvalu that had quashed Ielemia’s conviction and acquitted him of the abuse of office charges. The appeal to the High Court held that the conviction was "manifestly unsafe," with the court quashing the 12-month jail term.
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 3 August 2006 to elect fifteen members to the Parliament. There were 5,765 eligible voters on the electoral roll. 32 candidates, including 2 women, competed for the 15 seats. All fifteen candidates elected were Independents, as there are no political parties in the country.
Sir Iakoba Taeia Italeli is a Tuvaluan politician who was the governor-general of Tuvalu from 16 April 2010, until 22 August 2019, when he resigned to contest in the 2019 general election. He was not successful in that election, however he was elected as a member of parliament in the 2024 Tuvaluan general election.
Parliamentary elections were held in Tuvalu on 16 September 2010. Voters elected fifteen members of the Parliament to a four-year term. All candidates were independents, as there are no political parties in the country. Ten out of the fifteen incumbent members were re-elected. The remaining five incumbents, including Deputy Prime Minister Tavau Teii, did not retain their seats. The incumbent Prime Minister, Apisai Ielemia, retained his seat in Vaitupu constituency. On 29 September, Maatia Toafa from Nanumea won eight of the fifteen votes to become Prime Minister.
Enele Sosene Sopoaga PC is a Tuvaluan diplomat and politician who was Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2013 to 2019.
The Cabinet of Tuvalu is the executive branch of the government of Tuvalu.
Dr. Falesa Pitoi is a Tuvaluan politician.
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.
A by-election was held in the Nukufetau constituency in Tuvalu on 28 June 2013. It followed the death of MP and Minister for Finance Lotoala Metia, who died suddenly on 21 December 2012.
Elisala Pita OBE was a Tuvaluan politician.
The governor-general of Tuvalu is the representative of the Tuvaluan monarch, currently King Charles III, in the country of Tuvalu.
The Tuvaluan constitutional crisis was a political dispute in Tuvalu between the government, led by Prime Minister Willy Telavi, and the opposition, led by Enele Sopoaga, that was precipitated by the death of the Minister of Finance, Lotoala Metia MP on 21 December 2012, which eliminated the government's majority. The dispute was eventually resolved in August 2013 by a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Willy Telavi, following which Enele Sopoaga was elected Prime Minister.
The Telavi Ministry was the 13th ministry of the Government of Tuvalu, led by Prime Minister Willy Telavi. It succeeded the Second Toafa Ministry upon its swearing in by Governor-General Iakoba Italeli on 24 December 2010 after a vote of no confidence in former Prime Minister Maatia Toafa. Following Telavi's removal as prime minister, his ministry was subsequently brought down by the opposition's vote of no confidence and was succeeded by the Sopoaga Ministry, led by Enele Sopoaga, on 5 August 2013.
A by-election was held in the Nui constituency in Tuvalu on 10 September 2013. It was triggered by the resignation of the incumbent, MP Taom Tanukale, the Minister for Health, in the government of Willy Telavi.
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