Niua 17 is an

electoral constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

for the Legislative Assembly in the

Kingdom of Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. It was established for the November 2010 general election, when the multi-seat regional constituencies for People's Representatives were replaced by single-seat constituencies, electing one representative via 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 thei ...

electoral system. It encompasses the entirety of the Niua island group, for which it is the sole constituency. (The number does not mean that it is the seventeenth in the Niuas, but in the country.) Thus, although it is technically a new constituency, it corresponds exactly to the former Niuas constituency, which also elected a single representative. Its first ever representative is Sosefo Fe‘aomoeata Vakata, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

first time MP. Vakata stood as a candidate for the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands in the 2010 general election, and defeated the incumbent MP for the Niuas, independent member Sione ʻIloa. Barely two weeks after the election, however, Vakata announced that he was leaving the party, and would henceforth sit as an independent, so that he could support a noble, rather than DPFI leader ʻAkilisi Pohiva, for the premiership. He was subsequently appointed Minister for Youth, Training, Employment and Sports."Results: Niua 17 election"
Tongan government portal He lost the seat in 2017 to Vatau Hui.

Members of Parliament

Election results

2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niua 17 Tongan legislative constituencies 2010 establishments in Tonga Constituencies established in 2010 Niuas