Bob Loughman Weibur (born 8 March 1961) is a

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 ...

an politician who served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu between April 2020 and November 2022.Vanuatu elects new prime minister as country reels from devastating cyclone
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'', 20 April 2020.Vanuatu Parliament Votes In New Prime Minister
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'', 4 November 2022.

Career

A member of 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 ...

, he was first elected to

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 ...

as MP for Tanna in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

on 6 July 2004. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2012. In March 2013, following a change in government, new Prime Minister Moana Carcasses appointed him Minister for Education. Like other members of the Vanua'aku Pati, he crossed the floor on 15 May 2014 to help bring down the Carcasses government. New Prime Minister

Joe Natuman Joe Natuman (born 24 November 1952) is a Vanuatuan politician of the Vanua'aku Pati and former Prime Minister of Vanuatu. He is a graduate of the University of the South Pacific, and was also an exchange student at the University of Papua New Gu ...

maintained Loughman at his post as Minister for Education. He lost office on 11 June 2015 when the Natuman government was ousted in a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

. From 2018 he is the leader of the

. From 20 April 2020 to 4 November 2022, Loughman was in office as

Prime Minister of Vanuatu The prime minister of Vanuatu is the head of government of the Republic of Vanuatu. The office of Prime Minister was created under the Constitution of Vanuatu upon the country's independence in 1980, with independence campaigner Walter Lini b ...

Diplomatic conflict with Indonesia over West Papua

Loughman is an open critic of the Indonesian government's handling of the situation in the West Papua region, and supports the cause of the separatist West Papuans. During the 2020 United Nations General Assembly address, Loughman called out Indonesia over human rights violations in the region, prompting a response from Indonesian diplomats who labeled his speech as having an "excessive and unhealthy obsession" with the cause of West Papua and accused Loughman of meddling in Indonesia's internal affairs.

2021 no-confidence vote

On 1 June 2021, the opposition filed a no-confidence vote against Loughman over alleged excessive spending in the situation of national crisis due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Vanuatu The COVID-19 pandemic in Vanuatu is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Vanuatu on 11 November 2020. Backg ...

and the impact of

Cyclone Harold Severe Tropical Cyclone Harold was a very powerful tropical cyclone which caused widespread destruction in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga during April 2020. It was the first Category 5 tropical cyclone in 2020. The seventh named ...

last year, both things which have negatively impacted Vanuatu's economy. This became the first attempt at ousting him in a country where analysts say, no-confidence votes are commonplace. Following the boycott of parliament by government MPs for three days, partly to avoid the motion of no confidence, speaker

Gracia Shadrack Gracia Shadrack served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Vanuatu from 20 April 2020 to 15 June 2021. He represents Malakula as a member of the Leaders Party of Vanuatu. Following a government motion to have the speaker removed, and the boycot ...

declared on 8 June 2021 that the seats of Loughman and 17 other MPs were vacant.

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice

Oliver Saksak Oliver Abraham Saksak (born 20 December 1960) is a Vanuatuan judge who has sat on the Supreme Court of Vanuatu since May 1997. Early life He hails from Ambrym in Malampa Province Malampa is one of the six provinces of Vanuatu, located in the ...

put a stay on the speaker's ruling until a court could formally consider the dispute. On 18 June 2021, Saksak confirmed that 19 government MPs including Loughman had lost their seats. An appeal court also rejected the MPs case in July 2021 but the 19 MPs finally won in the appeal court on 28 October 2021, keeping their seats.

2022 no-confidence motion

A new no-confidence motion was avoided in August 2022 by Vanuatu's president dissolving Parliament at short notice.

References

1961 births Living people Government ministers of Vanuatu Members of the Parliament of Vanuatu Prime Ministers of Vanuatu People from Tafea Province Vanua'aku Pati politicians {{Vanuatu-politician-stub