by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held in the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of Toi, in

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

, on 31 March 2012. A general election was held in Niue on 7 May 2011. The island of Niue is one of the smallest self-governing nations in the world; it has an approximate population of 1,400, and a

national Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

of twenty members. Six of those are elected on an island-wide roll, while the other fourteen are elected from single-member village constituencies. There are no political parties. The electoral system in the constituencies is the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system. In the 2011 election, eighteen voters cast a ballot for the constituency seat of Toi; incumbent candidate

Dion Taufitu Dion Paki Taufitu is a Niuean politician and Cabinet Minister. Taufitu formerly served as clerk of the Niue Assembly. He was first elected to the Assembly at the 1990 Niuean general election. He was re-elected at the 1996 election. He was re-ele ...

was reelected with an absolute majority of votes (11 votes; 61.1%). When the newly elected Assembly convened for members to take the oath of office, however, Taufitu was ill in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Assembly Speaker Ahohiva Levi travelled to Auckland and administered the oath to him there. Former Secretary for Justice and Common Roll Member of Parliament Togia Sioneholo challenged the validity of this procedure, arguing that an oath of office was only valid, under the Westminster system, if taken in public. The High Court, in early March 2012, ruled that the oath had not been administered properly, and found that Taufitu was therefore no longer legally the MP for Toi, precipitating a by-election.

Candidates and result

There were two candidates: the incumbent

, and Mokaelalini Vaha. Taufitu was reelected with eleven votes to six; there was one invalid vote. He was then sworn in successfully.

2011 result

References

{{Niuean elections 2012 elections in Oceania 2012 in Niue By-elections to the Niue Assembly March 2012 events in Oceania Non-partisan elections Politics of Niue