Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
on 4 August 2010. The election date was announced in May 2010 by Prime Minister
. Although the announcement was deemed to be premature, as only the Governor General has the authority to announce the election date upon the advice of the Electoral Commission, the election date remained the same.
Candidates
There were a total of 509 candidates, including 25 women.
Results
The event was overseen by international election observers connected with the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
International Election Observation Coordination Team. The elections were described as peaceful, although strong concerns were expressed about
voter registration
In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
The r ...
irregularities.
25 incumbents were returned and 25 were replaced (including three seats where the incumbent chose not to recontest and one seat that was vacant due to the death of Edward Huni'ehu). Of the 50 MPs, most are relatively inexperienced: 45 have served less than two terms in office. The five long-serving MPs are Job Dudley Tausinga (entering his 7th consecutive term), Danny Philip (5th term), Snyder Rini (4th term), Manasseh Sogavare (4th term) and Gordon Darcy Lilo (3rd term).
By constituency
Incumbent members are marked with an asterisk.
Aftermath
On 11 August 2009, lobbying was reportedly in progress, as several political groups jockeyed to form a coalition government, with three main camps forming.
The first camp was built around the outgoing government led by Derek Sikua. One of its spokespeople, Matthew Wale, claimed on 13 August that the group has the support of five parties and 30 MPs including the
Solomon Islands Democratic Party
The Solomon Islands Democratic Party is a political party in Solomon Islands. In a country in which political parties tend to be small and transient, and to obtain very few seats in Parliament, the Democratic Party has played a comparatively ma ...
(12 MPs), the
Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement
The Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (SIPRA) is a political party in the Solomon Islands.
At the legislative elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or mult ...
(4), the
Solomon Islands Liberal Party
The Solomon Islands Liberal Party (SILP) was a political party in the Solomon Islands.
History
The party was established as the Nationalist Party in 1975, before becoming the National Democratic Party (NADEPA).Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political pa ...
(1), the People's Congress Party (1), and six independents. This camp was based at the Heritage Hotel.
A second camp was based around three parties: the
Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party
The Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party (or Our Party) is a political party in the Solomon Islands.
The party was established on 16 January 2010 (and officially launched a month later) by the leader of the Opposition (and former Prime Minis ...
led by former Prime Minister
Manasseh Sogavare
Manasseh Damukana Sogavare (born 17 January 1955) is the sixth and current Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, serving since 24 April 2019. He previously held the office in 2000–2001, 2006—2007 and 2014–2017; in all he has served over ni ...
Danny Philip
Danny Philip (born 5 August 1953) is a politician and diplomat from Solomon Islands. He was Prime Minister of Solomon Islands from 2010 to 2011. Previously he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996 and again from July 2000 to Ju ...
(2). This camp was based at the Pacific Casino Hotel.
A third camp was led by the newly established Independent Democratic Party (IDP) led by
Association of Independent Members. Kaitu'u has suggested that their camp will also get support from the People's Alliance Party (PAP) and the Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (SIPRA). It was thought possible that SIPRA would decide to join with the Heritage Hotel camp. A spokesman for the group denied that cash incentives were being used to secure members for the coalition.
Danny Philip was narrowly elected the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
on 24 August 2010, with 26 votes to 23 for his rival, the Democratic Party's
Steve Abana
Steve William Abana (born 1969 in Fourau, MalaitaBiography on the website of the Parliament of Solomon Is ...
.
In a victory speech following the Prime Ministerial election, Philip stated that his first priority would be to form a new government. He said his government would actively support the country's Constitutional Reform process. This had been one of his central campaign pledges, and the reason why he had formed the Reform Democratic Party.
Upon naming his cabinet, he appointed
Manasseh Maelanga
Manasseh Maelanga (born March 25, 1970) is a member of the National Parliament of the Solomon Islands. He represents East Malaita constituency.
In May 2009, he was named Minister for Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening in Prim ...
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...