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Results for Tonga Parliament

Monday 4 September 2023
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A ground breaking ceremony of the Lakalaka-‘i-monū development site, marked the beginning of construction of Tonga’s new Parliament House on Friday, 1 September, at Talangaholo, Tufumahina Royal estate.
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Thursday 18 November 2021
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Polling opened at 9:00am this morning, at 200 polling stations throughout Tonga, in the General Election held every four years. It's a fine day for voting and in the capital, traffic is lively. After polls close at 4:00pm the preliminary running results will be announced by the Election Commission and by around 8:00-10:00pm tonight we'll know the leading candidates. Election Supervisor, Pita Vuki, hopes that more voters than ever will turnout today and reverse a trend of growing voter disaffection that saw the last turnout drop to about half of registered electors. By Mary Lyn Fonua.
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Monday 11 October 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Thirty young women entered the Fale Alea 'of Tonga, for a “practice parliament” to celebrate the International Day of the Girl today, October 11. This week, the participants will debate their views in a parliamentary setting.
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Sunday 26 September 2021
2010 King Tupou V

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The call for Tongans to be sensible and to select parliamentary representatives who will use their money wisely, is a message that we have heard repeatedly since the first election under our new system of government that was introduced in 2010. Campaigning is underway for the upcoming General Election on November 18, 2021, which will be the fourth General Election under our so-called “More Democratic System of Government”. But most interestingly, after 11 years, we find ourselves still living in Disneyland, with politicians promoting many different interpretations of the system of government and encouraging everyone to go along for the ride. By Pesi Fonua
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Wednesday 11 August 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Tongan Parliament got off to a slow start yesterday, 10 August after its four weeks break. At first it did not have a quorum, so it went into recess for 10 minutes. In fact, the House was scheduled to resume on 2 August. However, it did not get rolling until yesterday morning. Government had tabled several Bills to the House only the day before the House resumed its proceeding. From the House by Pesi Fonua.
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Tuesday 1 June 2021

The proceedings in the Tongan Parliament on Monday, 31 May highlighted an attempt by members of parliament to fulfil their duty, “to oversee the work of the Government of the day,” as stated by King Tupou VI when he opened Parliament on 6 May. From the House by Pesi Fonua.
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Monday 24 May 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A petition, pleading for King Tupou VI to dismantle parliament and call a new General Election, “because the people no longer trust the Parliament and the Government”, was delivered this afternoon to the Palace Office, by Siaosi Pohiva, the Tongatapu No. 1 People’s Representative and his supporters.
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Monday 24 May 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A National Budget of $618.3 million pa'anga, an increase of $28.7 million on the previous year, was tabled into parliament, by the Tonga government this morning, 24 May. The PM said they have only three weeks to pass the budget before they go away to 'Eua for the opening of a military camp, church conferences and feasting. From the House by Pesi Fonua.
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Thursday 20 May 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
It’s only six paragraphs long, but the response from parliament to King Tupou VI's confronting speech of 6 May, has taken a committee of nine MPs 11 days to prepare. When the draft letter was presented to the House on 18 May for approval, they went to the dark side of the moon – silencing live radio broadcasting of the debate, to prevent an inquisitive public listening to what members had to say about it. From the House by Pesi Fonua
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Tuesday 18 May 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga's parliament suppressed live broadcasting of its debate this morning, in their first sitting since King Tupou VI questioned the honesty, integrity and abilities of the members at the opening of Parliament on 6 May. A total of 18 MPs agreed their draft letter of response to the king and debate on it should be not broadcasted live. From the House by Pesi Fonua
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Monday 10 May 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Parliament is deferred indefinitely while the House frames its response to the King's speech. King Tupou VI opened the 2021-22 parliamentary session on Thursday with a challenging speech from the throne that questioned members' abilities to run the government. From the House by Pesi Fonua
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Thursday 6 May 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
HM King Tupou VI chastised and challenged Parliament, directly questioning members’ honesty, mission and abilities to run the government, in a remarkably frank and hard-hitting speech from the throne, to open the Legislature's 2021-22 session this morning. From the House, By Pesi Fonua
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Friday 9 April 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
King Tupou VI called on government to redirect its focus to the development of agriculture production, fisheries and tourism, because despite efforts to build roads, bridges, airports and wharves, Tonga is unable to counter its international trade deficit, while its two major imports are fuel and food.
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Thursday 4 March 2021

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga has a new handbook to guide parliamentary reporters. The 88 pages bilingual Tongan/English, “Tonga Parliamentary Reporters’ Handbook” was launched by the Speaker Lord Fakafanua, at Parliament House, Nuku'alofa, this morning, 4 March 2021. But significantly, the new handbook makes no mention of the role of political parties in Tonga’s parliament.
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Thursday 26 November 2020

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The three urgent Bills that were tabled into Parliament on Monday, 23 November by the Prime Minister, Hon. Dr Rev Pohiva Tu’I’onetoa are yet to be reintroduced and passed by the House. From the House by Pesi Fonua.
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Saturday 21 November 2020

Fasi mo e Afi, Tonga
The first question of course is: what are Tongan traditions or traditional customs? Traditions in any place at any time are continuously subject to changes, especially in, what Chinese call, 'interesting' times. One thing is clear: you had in pre-missionary times chiefs and commoners. The commoners were essentially slaves, and any chief could do with them as he pleased. Briefly: the word of the chief was the law. So no need any more of judges, laws or even a Constitution. And after this law change we do not need churches any more, as they are not traditional, and all the faifekau will be fired. And, of course, most parliamentarians are commoners. - Firitia.
Thursday 15 October 2020

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
MPs claimed that because Cabinet Ministers were on an election campaign mission to ‘Eua, it forced parliament to close down on Monday, 12 October, because it did not have the quorum. From the House by Pesi Fonua.
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Monday 12 October 2020

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Four Constituency Reports of People Representatives from Vava’u, and Niuatoputapu and Niuafo’ou were passed by the House last week from 7-8 October. This year the constituencies budget allocation is the biggest ever at $250,000 for each of the 17 People’s Representatives.
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Tuesday 6 October 2020

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Tongan Parliament yesterday 5 October with a majority vote of 16-0 passed a number of old Government Ministries Annual Reports, some going back to 2009, that had never been tabled into Parliament. Today, 6 September parliament sat for a half-day, because after lunch it did not have a quorum. From the House, by Pesi Fonua.
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Monday 5 October 2020

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Prime Minister Hon. Dr Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa informed members of Parliament this morning that he would brief Parliament weekly on what government had achieved, before he released information to the media. Government will soon table into parliament a new Communication Offences Bill, “to address the misuse of social media”. From the House by Pesi Fonua.
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