Pro-China Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare yesterday said that he would not stand for a new term following inconclusive April 17 elections.
The outgoing leader said his party had chosen Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeremiah Manele as its parliamentary leader — in effect its candidate for the Pacific nation’s prime minister.
Sogavare said he was confident his Ownership Unity and Responsibility Party had secured enough support from coalition partners to give it a slim majority of 28 MPs in the 50-seat parliament.
Photo: AP
He also took a parting shot at his critics, saying his family and children had been subjected to “unprecedented verbal abuse.”
“I’ve been accused of many things. But not a single one of these accusations have been proven,” Sogavare told a news conference.
“I have been continuously vilified in the media ... but that did not waver my resolve. It has not been easy,” he said.
Sogavare’s withdrawal from the leadership does not necessarily spell the end of his party’s embrace of China.
As foreign minister, it was Manele who traveled to Beijing in 2019 to formalize diplomatic relations with China. Lawmakers are to meet in parliament to elect the Pacific nation’s leader at 9:30am on Thursday.
Nominations for the top job are to close this Tuesday afternoon, Governor General David Vunagi said in a written notice yesterday.
Sogavare retained his seat by a narrow margin in the April 17 poll, but his party fell short of an outright majority.
Sogavare signed a security pact with Beijing in 2022, and has overseen the rapid expansion of Chinese interests across the archipelago. Rival parties have expressed a desire to wind back China’s influence if they form a government.
Four opposition parties have reportedly banded together to fight for power, with the three-party CARE coalition linking up with the Solomon Islands United Party.
With a combined 20 seats, according to provisional results, they too would have to recruit other MPs for a chance to govern.
Under the Solomons’ constitution, the prime minister is chosen by a secret ballot of lawmakers in parliament.
The candidate who gets an absolute majority becomes prime minister.
If the first round does not produce a clear winner, then the lowest-scoring candidates are eliminated in successive rounds.
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