Barak Tame Sopé Mautamata (born 1951) is a ni-

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 ...

politician. He is the leader of the

Melanesian Progressive Party The Melanesian Progressive Party is a political party in Vanuatu formed after an internal leadership struggle within the Vanua'aku Pati in the late 1980s. MPP founder, former Prime Minister Barak Sopé Barak Tame Sopé Mautamata (born 1951) ...

and was, until 2008, a member of the Vanuatu parliament from the island of

Efate Efate (french: Éfaté) is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. It is also known as Île Vate. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanu ...

. He was the

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 Lin ...

from 1999 until 2001, when he was deposed by Parliament in a no confidence vote. Sopé was

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

in 1996. He was elected Prime Minister in a parliamentary vote on 25 November 1999, receiving 28 votes against 24 for

Edward Natapei Edward Nipake Natapei Tuta Fanua`araki (17 July 1954 – 28 July 2015) was a Vanuatuan politician. He was the prime minister of Vanuatu on two occasions, and was previously the minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in 1991, the acting president o ...

. Shortly after he was deposed on 13 April 2001, he was convicted on 2 charges of forging several million US dollars' worth of Vanuatu Government Guarantees and was sentenced in July 2002 to 3 years on each charge (to be served concurrently), but was pardoned in 2003 despite heavy opposition from Australia and New Zealand. When the coalition government of

Serge Vohor Rialuth Serge Vohor (born 23 April 1955) is a Vanuatuan politician. He hails from the largest island of Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, from Port Olry. He was a member of the Union of Moderate Parties, a centrist political party, until 2022. When his ...

was sworn in on 29 July 2004, Sopé became

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

. He lost that position in November 2004 after he spoke out against Vanuatu's attempts to establish diplomatic relations with

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

, reputedly due to his own dealings with the Chinese. He returned to the cabinet in December 2004 when the government of Ham Lini took office, taking up the post of Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. In the September 2008 general election, Sopé lost his seat in Parliament. In September 2014, Sopé was a candidate in the indirect presidential elections. He was eventually defeated in the eighth round of voting by

Baldwin Lonsdale Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale (5 August 1948 – 17 June 2017) was a Vanuatuan politician and Anglican priest who served as the president of Vanuatu from 22 September 2014 until his death in 2017. Early life and career Lonsdale was born on Mota L ...

References

1955 births Living people Prime Ministers of Vanuatu Finance Ministers of Vanuatu Members of the Parliament of Vanuatu People from Shefa Province Recipients of Vanuatuan presidential pardons Melanesian Progressive Party politicians People educated at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School {{Vanuatu-politician-stub