From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 1, May 2002.

The Tongan 2002 triennial Parliamentary General Election has set a landmark in the development of Tongan politics for the 21st century, with some unprecedented events.

When Tongans went to the polls on March 7 to elect their nine People’s Representatives to the 30 seat Tonga Legislative Assembly, for the first time a group of candidates campaigned very effectively and took seven of the nine seats of the People’s Representatives. The so-called Kau Temo, or pro-democracy candidates took the People’s Representative seats in Tongatapu, ‘Eua, Ha‘apai and the two Niuas.

It was the first time that Tonga experienced the impact of an election campaign that was backed by a political movement, the Tonga Human Rights and Democracy Movement. The THRDM, which is funded with overseas grants, set out to initiate political changes in the country, and its working agenda included the conducting of political awareness discussions in Tongan villages. It also offered a counselling service from its Nuku‘alofa office.

It was also for the first time that government ministers from an overseas country, New Zealand, tried to influence the outcome of a Tongan Parliamentary Election.

It was also for the first time that an overseas press campaign supported the pro-democracy candidates by publishing negative reports about Tonga, and at times ridiculing the Tongan government and the Royal Family.

The campaigns for the first time nearly succeeded in dividing the country into two political camps, the so-called pro-democracy and anyone who was not in alliance with the pro-democracy movement.

It was also the first time that an elected Member of Parliament was charged with sedition after the election, because of allegations that he had used fraudulent information as a major part of his election campaign (see page 6).

Orchestrated

So in the end the well orchestrated campaign of the pro-democracy movement proved far too powerful against the individual candidates who were still campaigning in the old personalised style for the nine People’s Representative seats in the House. The results showed that the three pro-democracy candidates, particularly for Tongatapu were a long way in front of the polling, where ‘Akilisi Pohiva returned with 9,437 votes, Feleti Sevele returned with 8,498 votes and newcomer ‘Isileli Pulu had 5,550 votes. (There are 32,245 registered voters in Tongatapu). Throughout Tonga four People’s Representatives were returned, with five newcomers winning seats.

But, following the election ‘Akilisi Pohiva, the Tongatapu no. 1 People’s Representative, and secretary of the THRDM, was charged with sedition, fraud, and defamation, along with his son Po‘oi. Another Member of Parliament, the newly-elected ‘Isileli Pulu was charged with fraud. These are criminal charges that will be heard by the Tongan courts this year, and if convicted the two MPs stand to loose their seats.

The involvement of the Tonga Human Rights and Democracy Movement in the campaign of the Pro-democracy candidates was an interesting development (see page 12), because despite the fact that the THRDM declared last year that it would not nominate candidates and that it would not be involved in election campaigning, instead in a discreet manner it was involved in campaigning.

The discovery by the police of copies of an allegedly fraudulent letter in the Nuku‘alofa office of the THRDM, and the subsequent public apology by the THRDM Director to the King and the People of Tonga, will have an impact on the credibility of the movement and particularly its Secretary, ‘Akilisi Pohiva.

Back on the political front, this year’s events could be the first step to the introduction of party politics to Tonga. Because in the next election unless a group of candidates pool together resources and ideas, and establish an organisation which can organise and manage their campaigns, they will never be able to face a well planned campaign as was staged by the Kau Temos this year. In the next election in 2006 the candidates for the nine

People’s Representative seats will be forced by this year’s events to take a more aggressive stance against each other in order to win the seats.