By Mary Lyn Fonua

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.

There are 73 candidates for 17 People's Representatives seats in the 26-member Tonga Legislative Assembly.

Tonga's veteran 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.

This will be the fourth election following Tonga's 2010 democratic reform, which gave the People greater representation in parliament and changed the electoral landscape of this Oceanic island kingdom – a Constitutional Monarchy under King Tupou VI and home to 106,000 people.

But Pita said that polling over the last three elections has dropped.

Following a high 91% percent turnout in 2010, during the excitement of an electoral reform that heralded a “more democratic form of government”, there was a disappointing 67% turnout in 2017. Then only 53% of registered electors voted in the last by-election in 2019, for the Tongatapu no. 1 seat that had been held by a popular former Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva, who died in office that year.

While the electoral roll in Tonga has grown rapidly from around 42,000 in November 2010 to a record 62,253 in 2021, the numbers show that voters have lost their enthusiasm, particularly younger people.

Electoral campaigns can't be discussed on Election Day. Campaigning officially stopped 24 hours before the polls opened.

Pita said there were 1800 new elector registrations over the last two months – mainly first time voters. It's an encouraging sign of new interest, after two years of programmes and technical support to the Electoral Commission, funded mainly by Australia and New Zealand donor partners, to encourage greater participation in Tonga's evolving democracy.

The Electoral Commission is also trying to make voting easier.

“We've increased our ballot boxes to over 200 and every village has one,” he told Matangi Tonga on Tuesday. They've doubled the number of polling places in the largest 10 constituencies on the main island Tongatapu, where 70% of voters reside.

Pita has travelled around the outer islands, training teams of polling officials and volunteers, and encouraging people to vote.  Last week, he took an Australian-funded charter flight to the northern Niuas, where the smallest Constituency no. 17 (Niuafo'ou, Niuatoputapu and Tafahi Islands) with only 1277 voters, lies closer to Samoa than the rest of Tonga. Transport is irregular to these isolated islands.

“It's the first time I've had a face-to-face with them, reminding them of their important roles on election day,” said Pita.

There's no easy way to get the ballot boxes returned to the capital, so Niuas election officials will count the ballots and report the outcomes to Nuku'alofa by telephone and email today.

But if a recount is called for then the ballots will have to be sent to Nuku'alofa.

Tongans who are registered as electors must be in Tonga to vote.

“We can't facilitate an overseas vote,” said Pita.

Currently, around 3,000 nationals remain stranded overseas by the COVID border restrictions, and there will be no further repatriations this year.

The border restriction also means there will be no overseas election observers coming to Tonga. But Pita said that he had received requests from resident foreign diplomats in Tonga to observe the election this year.

Tonga's "first past the post" voting system is a simple one whereby voters indicate the candidate of their choice and the candidate with the most votes in each of 17 small constituencies wins the seat. The largest constituency Tongatapu no. 3 has only 4734 electors.

"Counting the ballots is a simple exercise," Pita said. The preliminary results will be known by around 8:00-10pm the same day.

Noble's Representatives

In the House of Parliament there are 17 seats for the People and nine seats for the Nobles Representatives.

The 33 hereditary noble title-holders, now called Lords, are choosing their own representatives, in a separate election this morning. Two titles are vacant (Ma'atu and 'Ahome'e) and some nobles hold more than one title. Seven nobles are currently overseas, including some incumbents. There are also five life peers in Tonga who may vote or enter parliament.

The Supervisor of Elections said that nobles do not have to register in the same way as the candidates for the People's Representative seats. The Electoral Commission sends them a letter asking them to indicate their interest in standing, and the nobles reply.

Forming a government

Before a new government can take over in December or January, the new House must elect a Prime Minister from the elected members.

In turn, the Prime Minister can appoint ministers to form a 12-member Cabinet, so there will always be a minority government. Up to four non-elected ministers may be chosen from outside the House. Two were appointed in the current government.

Party politics was not written into the 2010 electoral reform. All candidates must register as independents to represent their constituencies.

Several of the MPs want to be the next Prime Minister, including the Nobles, one of whom must be appointed as Speaker. The Speaker is nominated by the new members and chosen by secret ballot in the House

Within seven-days after the declaration of the election results, the King will appoint an Interim Speaker. The current Speaker will remain as Speaker until the King appoints the Interim Speaker.

The Interim Speaker is the person who will oversee the process of the election of the Prime Minister and the new Speaker, who are elected in a secret ballot by the new Members of Parliament.

- Photos by Linny Folau