prime minister

Solomon Islands

Deliberating on a prime minister

By Johnson Honimae

SOLOMON ISLANDS’ fourth national elections since independence in 1987, held on May 26, resulted in no absolute majority for any of the seven political groups or parties that put forward a total of 280 candidates to contest the 47 seats.

None of the political parties secured the 24 seats needed to secure a majority government.

This has led to a period of lobbying although not as intense as in neighbour ing Papua New Guinea where party members had to be virtually locked up to prevent other parties enticing them to cross the floor. All the same it was a tense period for the various political parties.

Prime Minister Mamaloni’s Group for National Unity and Reconciliation ended up with 21 seats, three short of a majority. Despite this there was con fusion over the numbers because some candidates entered the election with the names of two or three parties beside their election symbols. As the lobbying inten sified, the National Unity Group claimed it had 24 and went to the extent of laying out plans as if they had already formed the government. Mamaloni went ahead to announce that his group planned to increase the number of government ministries from the current 15 to 18. The reason for this increase was to match the increase in national parliament seats from 38 to 47. But the real reason must be that in order to keep the support of the numbers he needed for a majority, he would need to reward a few more MPs with ministerial portfolios.

Mamaloni also announced his govern ment, if returned, would increase the MPs Discretionary or Slush Fund which already stands at SIS 100,000 per MP per year, a total of 5400,000 to spend on any project in the constituency during the four-year-term. Political observers have put the 70 per cent return of the sitting MPs after the elections to the the

discretionary fund.

Only one Cabinet minister (Minister of Transport Ben Gale) and six MPs lost their seats. In previous elections it was common for up to 50 per cent of sitting MPs not to get re-elected. Opposition parties had varying degrees of success as results were announced. The new Na tional Action Party of Solomon Islands,

led by former Ambassador to the UN, Francis Saemala, secured four seats and the Labour Party increased its numbers from two to four.

The outcome was not as good for the

other Opposition parties including the

Peoples Alliance Party which only se cured seven seats from over the 30 candidates it had fielded during the election. The other main party, the United Party, only won two, the Na tionalist Front for Progress lost one and is only left with leader Andrew Nori. The informal grouping of the Christian Fel lowship Group got three and the rest went to independents.

The six Opposition parties and some independents had come together to form what they called the National Coalition Partners with the aim of topping Mamaloni’s attempt to from a govern ment. They claimed they had 28 seats

and were ready to form the new government. Possibile canidates for prime minister included member of the Alliance party, Dennis Lulei, who was a Foreign Minister several years ago, Leader of the Opposition, Joses Tuhanuku, Francis Saemala, leader of NAPSI or NFP leader, Andrew Nori.

Only Lulei revealed his willingness to be a candidate saying he had the experience and capability for the job. A former secondary school teacher. Lulei resigned as chairman of the Public Service Commission to contest the elections.

The National Coalition Partners claim they offer a better leadership and would restore confidence the country. But even before the issue could be resolved there was scepticism on how long such a coalition would last. Some, however, have pointed out that history tells us coalitions tend to stick together more than a majority government in this country. They say if' Mamaloni could hastily put together a coalition and make it last for the last three years, then the opposition parties who have been together for four years and know each other could have a better chance of survival. But the country’s people will have to wait until June 18 when the 47 MPs vote for a new Prime Minister. □