Political Reviews • Melanesia 497 Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka

political reviews • melanesia 497 the Solomon Islands Development References Trust’s hundreds of village workers, most parliamentarians are unlikely to cbsi, Central Bank of Solomon Islands. 1996. Quarterly Review. Honiara. be returned in the coming election. “Of the 2,108 survey returns almost National. Port Moresby. two people out of every three voters Roughan, John. 1996. Solomon Citizen, 29 are choosing not to return their October. present parliamentarian if an election were held tomorrow” (Roughan SC, Solomon Citizen. Honiara. Weekly. 1996). sinp, Solomon Islands National Parliament. Second, issues such as the economy, 1995. Hansard Parliamentary Report. logging, corruption, leadership quali- June. Honiara. ties, and the Bougainville crisis will all ——— . feature prominently in the 1997 elec- . 1996 Provincial Government Bill 1996. Honiara. tion. These issues have become increas- ingly important in the last two years. SN, Solomon Nius. Honiara. Government The number of corruption cases monthly. uncovered in 1996 is also bound to SS, Solomon Star, Honiara. Twice weekly. have an impact on the election results. Furthermore, voters’ awareness of SV, Solomon Voice. Honiara. Twice weekly. their role and rights in the political process has undoubtedly improved since previous elections. Third, despite this increasing aware- Vanuatu ness, and the existence of political par- The year of living dangerously might ties, the personalities of candidates will aptly describe 1996 in Vanuatu. continue to have a huge influence on The short life-expectancy for the voter choice. In a society with deeply newly elected Vohor-Lini govern- rooted patronage-based electoral and ment, forecast in this review at the coalition politics it will be a long time close of 1995, was quickly fulfilled and before parties become an important ushered in a year in which the institu- variable in determining election out- tions of the state were continuously comes. Patronage-based politics have assaulted and their integrity danger- intensified in recent years as a result of ously threatened. The parliament, the candidates’ access to substantial government, the judiciary, the police amounts of money that could be used and mobile force, and the Office of the for campaigning. This is particularly so Ombudsman were all at various times for current members of parliament, under attack and in peril. At year’s who have personal control of project end, much as in a bad year for funds worth si$200,000 each year cyclones, the country had survived the through the Constituency Develop- storms and an apparent calm pre- ment Fund. vailed, but the trail of destruction left Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka in its wake was observable everywhere. It remains to be seen how well the 498 the contemporary pacific • fall 1997 exotic species of Westminster-style par- dence, signed by a majority of the liamentary government recovers from members of parliament, had been the havoc. lodged requesting an extraordinary On 4 January 1996, newly elected session to debate it. Andeng and six Prime Minister Serge Vohor married ump members of parliament had and on the tenth departed the country joined the 20-member Unity Front (uf) to attend the funeral of the late Presi- opposition in Vanuatu’s 50-seat parlia- dent of France François Mitterrand, ment to upset the new government. leaving the government in the hands of Vohor responded by accusing Carlot- his coalition partner and deputy, Korman of fomenting the move against Father Walter Lini. Lini’s pre-election him. Father Lini, foreseeing the need to remark that “in politics there is no for- have a competent justice to hear con- giveness” was rapidly given practical stitutional cases, and in spite of his expression in the replacement by party earlier remarks, proceeded to extend faithful of the directors of Civil Avia- the contract of the chief justice for two tion, Public Works, Health, and the years. On 7 February, Vohor sought Cultural Centre; the suspension of the an order to prevent the parliament heads of the Police Special Branch and from sitting the following day, and the National Tourism Office; and when denied by the Supreme Court, public acknowledgment that the con- stunned his collegues and the nation by tract of Chief Justice d’Imecourt, due announcing that he was resigning from to expire in March, would not be the prime ministership with immediate renewed. Lini’s failure to spare Union effect. At 10 o’clock next morning of Moderate Parties (ump) followers President Leye Lenelcau signed a from his purge of public servants in decree dissolving the parliament, an portfolios under his control soon led to act that helped to explain Vohor’s complaints that the government sudden resignation. At noon, Radio seemed to be a National United Party Vanuatu announced that contrary to (nup)–ump coalition, not the other any reports, the president had not dis- way round. That discontent early solved parliament. To add to the con- became a stalking-horse for former fusion, later that night Radio Vanuatu Prime Minister Carlot-Korman’s ambi- broadcast a prerecorded interview tion to supplant his own party leader with the president in which he dis- in the top job. Carlot-Korman was not cussed the reasons that had led him to reconciled to his loss of the prime min- issue the decree. Both local newspapers istership, and Amos Andeng, ump next day reported parliament’s dissolu- member for Ambrym, while less driven tion. The attorney-general obtained a by personal ambition, was not recon- court order restraining publication of ciled to his party’s failure to win gov- any such statement. ernment in its own right—a failure he In the interval before Carlot- blamed on Vohor and his faction in the Korman was elected prime minister on party. 23 February, an extraordinary On 31 January the Speaker’s office sequence of events took place: Lini, announced that a motion of no confi- angered by the court’s failure to pre- political reviews • melanesia 499 vent parliament from sitting, set up a ity into the previous cohesion of the commission of inquiry into the former Unity Front, and even into the prime minister, and the chief justice Vanua‘aku Party (vp) itself. There, dis- patently intended to dismiss him for satisfaction among backbenchers with gross misconduct; Vohor purported to the allocation of ministerial portfolios, revoke his resignation and resume which was seen as favoring the four office, and Lini, in his last hours as smaller parties in the coalition, rankled minister for justice, acted to suspend to the point of some party members or dismiss the commissioner of police, talking of crossing the floor to join in the chief justice, the attorney-general, another vote of no confidence. the clerk and deputy clerk of the par- In April, parliament passed the liament, and was considering action to 1996 budget almost six months late remove the president! His actions were and considered two reports by the all beyond his legal authority and, ombudsman, one identifying serious taken together, seem calculated to have problems in public administration aris- effected a coup d’état by administra- ing from lack of guidance on correct tive means. procedures or the failure to observe On 23 February, the floor of the them where they did exist, and the House itself became a battleground, other castigating the failures of past where the police were first asked to governments to enact the constitution’s persuade the acting Speaker to vacate stipulations on multilingualism. They the chair for the conduct of the session, launched what was to become a volley and later forcibly to remove from the of damaging broadsides against the chamber Vanuatu’s only woman mem- government and ministers as the year ber of parliament, Hilda Lini. Follow- progressed and more and more abuse ing the defeat of the Vohor government of public office occurred. and the swearing-in of Carlot-Korman The rift in the Union of Moderate and his ministry, the day’s proceedings Parties widened further in May when were immediately challenged in court. Vohor’s faction boycotted a national On 1 March, the chief justice, in con- party congress convened by Carlot- firming the validity of the appointment Korman, which then elected him presi- of the new prime minister and dismiss- dent. The party now found itself with ing all the several grounds for Vohor two national executives. Proliferation or Lini’s application, observed: “The of parties continued as a former high- facts...show...that every officer of profile ump woman activist, Maria the Government or Parliament was Kalsakau, founded her own “Liberal doing his utmost to ensure that the due Party.” For the first time since indepen- process of Parliamentary democracy dence, two ni-Vanuatu, Kalkot Matas should operate within the Constitution Kelekele and Vincent Lunabeck, were and the rule of law.” appointed justices of the Supreme However, a change in government Court. did not bring greater stability or better Vanuatu’s Finance Minister Barak governance; on the contrary, it served Sope, the mercurial leader of the to introduce new elements of instabil- Melanesian Progressive Party (mpp), 500 the contemporary pacific • fall 1997 also began to exert his muscle in May zenship) of interference in Vanuatu’s and backed some “adventurous” internal affairs, and, following the development proposals, including a recovery of the documents in London geothermal power plant, a cement fac- by the British police, claimed that his tory, a mine and tourist complex, the government’s actions had rectified the sale of investor passports, and the issue situation. Unable to discipline Sope, on of a license to the “Dragon Bank” whose continued support in parlia- despite doubts about its record in ment his government depended, Carlot- Indonesia. Far and away his most Korman hit out at others and threat- imaginative initiative was the issue of ened to withhold the salaries of staff at ten us$10 million bank guarantees to Radio Vanuatu if a news item on the be traded on international financial ombudsman’s report was not with- markets by an Australian, Peter Swan- drawn.

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