Antoine ("Tony") Wright, born 4 March 1960,
on the Parliament website 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. Having studied in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

and at the International School in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, he worked at the French embassy in Vanuatu. 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: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in the October 2012 general election, as MP for

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

, representing 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 Is ...

- a francophone, generally conservative political movement. When Prime Minister Sato Kilman lost the

confidence Confidence is a state of being clear-headed either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence comes from a Latin word 'fidere' which means "to trust"; therefore, having ...

of Parliament on 23 October 2013, new Prime Minister

Moana Carcasses Kalosil Moana Carcasses Kalosil (born 27 January 1963) is a Vanuatuan politician. He was Prime Minister of Vanuatu from March 2013 to May 2014. He was the first naturalized citizen of Vanuatu to become the country's prime minister. Carcasses was ouste ...

(of the Green Confederation) appointed Wright as Minister for Youth and Sports within his broad coalition government. In February 2014, he was one of several government MPs to defect to the Opposition, but then defected back to the government a few days later to retain his Cabinet position. He lost office when the Carcasses government was brought down by 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 m ...

on 15 May 2014. In June 2015, following a further change of government which returned Sato Kilman to power, Wright became a government backbencher. In October 2015, together with several other MPs, Wright was convicted of bribery by the Vanuatu Supreme Court. The court found that he had accepted a payment of 1,000,000

vatu The vatu ( abbreviation: VT;The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu.Current Banknotes and Coins in Circulation" Accessed 2 March 2013. ISO code: VUV) is the currency of Vanuatu. The vatu has no subdivisions. Etymology The term ''vatu'', used in all thr ...

from Moana Carcasses in return for support in the motion of no-confidence that brought the Kilman government to power."Public Prosecutor v Kalosil - Judgment as to verdict [2015] VUSC 135; Criminal Case 73 of 2015 (9 October 2015)"
Supreme Court of Vanuatu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Antoine 1960 births Members of the Parliament of Vanuatu Union of Moderate Parties politicians Government ministers of Vanuatu Living people