Solomon Islands reelects pro-China prime minister to parliament

As tensions over the country’s relations with Beijing simmer, the Solomon Islands’ pro-Beijing prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has kept his position in parliament following this week’s general election, local media reported late on Friday.

Now that he has completed a full term in office, Sogavare is one step closer to being the first prime minister in the history of the Solomon Islands to be reelected continuously. For the first time in the previous five years, the archipelago held elections on Wednesday to choose 50 members of the legislature.

The Solomon Islands shifted recognition to China in 2019 and broke off diplomatic connections with Taiwan after 36 years following Sogavare’s fourth term as prime minister. In 2022, it inked a security agreement with Beijing, and the previous year, it signed a police cooperation agreement.

More from World

'Sovereignty violated, security undermined': China fumes after USS Higgins destroyer 'intrudes' into South China Sea Russian oil disruption threatens global economy, India's burden manageable at $5bn a year: Report

Growing ties with China have Australia and the United States concerned that China may establish military bases in the Solomon Islands.

Sogavare said the nation could not have the parliamentary election and the Pacific Games in the same year, thus it was postponed from its original date of last year. Opponents of Sogavare criticized the postponement as a “power grab.”

Sogavare has held the position of prime minister four times, but never in that order.

Despite strong opposition from David Qurusu, the son of a previous member of parliament, and voter dissatisfaction with the nation’s economic and living conditions, many had predicted that he would be reelected from his East Choiseul constituency.

Impact Shorts

View All

'Sovereignty violated, security undermined': China fumes after USS Higgins destroyer 'intrudes' into South China Sea

Ahead of Putin meeting, Trump to hold virtual talks with European leaders; Zelenskyy likely to join

The Solomon Islands Election Commission’s chief electoral officer, Jasper Highwood Anisi, predicts that most results would be available by late Sunday or early Monday.

The question at hand is whether Sogavare will be reelected to the prime minister position for an unprecedented number of terms in a row.

Those chosen will convene in Honiara, the nation’s capital, following the announcement of the 50 seats. A system of secret horse-trading will be used to choose a new prime minister that is unpredictable and opaque. Weeks could pass before a ruling alliance forms.

Daniel Suidani, the former premier of Malaita in the east and a vocal opponent of the federal government’s strengthening relations with Beijing, was re-elected to the provincial legislature on Friday.

Following his ban on Chinese enterprises operating in Malaita, the most populous province in the country, Suidani was removed from office as premier in a no-confidence vote held the previous year. Suidani has declared his intention to run for provincial premier once more after regaining his seat.

In Suidani’s stead, Martin Fini was sworn in as the premier of Malaita, although he failed to win reelection. Fini oversaw a swift expansion of Chinese investments in the province and recently signed a memorandum of understanding on friendly exchanges with China’s Jiangsu province.