Solomon Islands election: PM Sogavare retains seat as count continues
Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has retained his parliamentary seat, results showed on Saturday, but it will be days before vote counting determines whether his Our party can form the next government.
Wednesday’s national election was the first since Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022, drawing the Pacific island country closer to Beijing. The move concerned the US and Australia because of the potential impact on regional security.
Police and defence forces from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji are assisting with election security.
Full results for the 50-member parliament are expected to be known next week and will indicate whether any party has achieved a majority or whether negotiations to form a coalition are needed to select the prime minister.
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Large numbers of independent candidates have won in previous elections, leading to fluid coalitions.
The results of the national and provincial elections held in Solomon Islands are being announced over several days. The electoral chief, Jasper Highwood Anisi, said vote counting was slow but the integrity of the process was a priority to maintain public trust, and ballot boxes were under heavy police security.
Sogavare won 49% of the vote in his East Choiseul constituency, beating the United party’s candidate, David Qurusu, on 42%, official results showed.
The former opposition leader Matthew Wale of Solomon Islands Democratic party kept his seat in Aoke in Malaita province, broadcaster SIBC reported on Saturday.
Daniel Suidani, a prominent critic of China who was the premier of Malaita province until he was ejected in a no-confidence vote in 2023, was re-elected to the Malaita provincial assembly, officials said.
As provincial premier he had banned Chinese companies from Malaita, Solomon Islands’ most populous province, and accepted US development aid before being ousted by lawmakers for his refusal to recognise China.
Suidani said his win showed Malaita voters wanted to see change in government.
“They are trying to rescue the province from bad leadership, corruption,” he said, adding final numbers in the provincial assembly were not yet known.
China sent its top envoy for the South Pacific to Malaita province this month to sign a memorandum of understanding with Malaita’s incumbent premier, Martin Fini.
Fini has now lost his provincial assembly seat, electoral officials said.