General elections were held in

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

on 19–20 March 2020. The elections were initially intended to be held on 19 March, but logistical problems resulted in some areas voting the following day.

Electoral system

The 52 members of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

were elected from eight single-member constituencies and ten multi-member constituencies (of between two and seven seats) by

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 ...

and

single non-transferable vote Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used to elect multiple winners. It is a generalization of first-past-the-post, applied to multi-member districts with each voter casting just one vote. Unlike FPTP, which is a single-winn ...

, respectively.

Campaign

The

Vanua'aku Pati The Vanua'aku Pati () is a democratic socialist political party in Vanuatu. History The party was founded on 17 August 1971 by Walter Lini as the New Hebridean Cultural Association, renamed later that same year as the New Hebrides National Party ...

launched its campaign slogan 'Lets Rebuild Vanuatu' in June 2019 and endorsed the continuation of its Kambak ("come back") policy. In October 2019, a 'Vot Woman' campaign was launched, supporting all female candidates and calling for guaranteed 50% representation for women in parliament. No women were elected in the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

or 2016 elections. There were around 15 female candidates, but none were elected. The youngest woman candidate in 2020 was

Litiana Kalsrap Litiana Kalsrap (born 1992) is a youth leader and climate activist from Vanuatu. In 2020 she was the youngest woman to contest a seat in the 2020 Vanuatu general election. In 2018 she was a recipient of a Queens Young Leader Award. Biography K ...

. An important issue was the future of the lucrative but controversial citizenship by investment, or “passport sales” programs. For a price of about US $150,000, these schemes allow applicants to become citizens in months, without setting foot in the country.

Results

Although there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the islands, there were concerns that fears of the pandemic could keep turnout low. Turnout at the previous election was about 57%.Coronavirus fears and controversial passport sales: Vanuatu's election explained
by Tess Newton Cain, The Guardian, 17 Mar 2020 Unofficial results were gradually released over the following days, with official results being announced later than usual, on 6 April, due to the death of the Chairman of the Vanuatu Electoral Commission, Martin Tete. No women were elected. Nineteen parties won one or more seats, with the

Land and Justice Party The Land and Justice Party ( bi, Graon mo Jastis Pati; GJP)

becoming the largest with nine of the 52 seats. Turnout was down six percentage points from the prior elections in 2016.

By constituency

Aftermath

Due to the delay in announcing the official results, Parliament was unable to meet for its first sitting within the normal period of 21 days after the election, and instead met for the first time on 20 April. During the first meeting, Gracia Shadrack of the

Leaders Party of Vanuatu The Leaders Party of Vanuatu (LPV) is a political party in Vanuatu. History The party was formed in 2015 by Jotham Napat, a former director general of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities. In the 2016 elections the party fielded f ...

was elected Speaker. Bob Loughman of the

was elected Prime Minister, defeating former foreign minister

Ralph Regenvanu Ralph John Regenvanu (born 20 September 1970 in Suva, Fiji''Laef Blong Mi'', Sethy Regenvanu, op.cit., p. 76) is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, artist and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since September 2008, was a member of Cabinet ...

of the

Land and Justice Party The Land and Justice Party ( bi, Graon mo Jastis Pati; GJP)

by 31 votes to 21. Loughman's coalition government included the Vanua'aku Pati, the

Union of Moderate Parties The Union of Moderate Parties (french: Union des partis moderés) is a liberal political party in Vanuatu founded in 1981. At the last general election, held on 22 January 2016, they won 9.73% of the vote and 6 seats. It is currently headed by Ish ...

, the National United Party and other minor parties. The next day Loughman appointed the members of his government.

Subsequent by-elections

2021 Pentecost by-election

Caused by the conviction of incumbent

Charlot Salwai Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas (born 24 April 1963)"Hon. Charlot Salwai"
Vanuatu Pa ...

for perjury. He was pardoned by President

Tallis Obed Moses Tallis Obed Moses (born 24 October 1954) is a Vanuatuan politician and pastor who served as the president of Vanuatu from 6 July 2017 to 6 July 2022. Biography Moses was originally from Port Vato, West Ambrym. He attended Primary School from 196 ...

, allowing him to run for the seat. The election was held on 8 October 2021. It was won by Sumptoh Blaise Tabisurin of the Rural Development Party.

References

{{Vanuatuan elections

2020 in Vanuatu Elections in Vanuatu