By Pesi Fonua

Tonga's next Prime Minister will be found from among the 26 new Members of Parliament, and a new government determined before Christmas.

King Tupou VI has appointed Rt. Hon. Lord Tangi as the Interim Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, effective from 20 November 2021 to preside and lead the constitutional process to elect the Prime Minister Designate.

The Office of the Fale Alea ‘o Tonga stated yesterday that the process will begin after the return of the writ of election to the King by the Electoral Commission. The General Election was held on November 18 and the writ of election must be returned by 2 December 2021.

“The date of return of the writ is crucial as it triggers the timeframes outlined in the Constitution for completion of the process for election of the Prime Minister Designate,” it stated.

• Within 10 days from the return of the writ of election, the Interim Speaker must issue an invitation to all elected Representatives to submit nominations for Prime Minister Designate. Nominations must be received within 14 days from the date of return of the writ.
• A nomination of a candidate for Prime Minister Designate can be submitted in writing by an elected Representative, and seconded by two other elected Representatives. No elected representative who has proposed or seconded a candidate, may propose or second another candidate.
• Within three days from closing date for receiving nominations, the Interim Speaker must summon a meeting of the elected Representatives. The Prime Minister's election will be carried out by secret ballot during this meeting.

The Chief Clerk of the Legislature stated that the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament will also be made at this same meeting.

Elected Prime Ministers

The Hon. Rev. Dr Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa has served as Prime Minister for the last two years. He was elected by the House on 27 September 2019, to complete the term of the late Prime Minister Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva who died in office on 12 September 2019.

Hon. Tu'i'onetoa was formerly the Minister of Finance under the government of  ‘Akilisi and the “PATOA” party.

Since the move to introduce a More Democratic System of Government in 2010 it has not been plain sailing.

‘Akilisi Pohiva was the second Prime Minister to be elected under Tonga's reformed parliament. He was our Prime Minister from 2014 to 24 August 2017, when parliament was dissolved by the King.

Following a new election 'Akilisi regained his seat and once again became Prime Minister, serving from 16 November 2017 until his death in 2019.

Shift

However, when Hon. Tu'i'onetoa became the Prime Minister in 2019, he declared that he was a member of a new political party, the “People’s Party”. It marked a significant shift away from the political control of PATOA as envisioned by 'Akilisi and his supporters.

The political reform was introduced in 2010 without a party structure in parliament.

However, debating in parliament became dominated by members of these two political parties, the PATOA and the People’s Party.

Three PATOA members who retained their seats in last week's election were: Saia Piukala, Veivosa Taka and Semisi Fakahau.

Hon. Tu'i'onetoa retained his Tongatapu 10 constituency. In total, eight out of his 11 Cabinet Ministers, including two Nobles serving as Ministers, were returned.

Nine new faces are coming in to the 17 People's Representative seats.

The 26 elected members of the Legislative Assembly are made up of 17 elected Peoples’ Representatives and nine Nobles’ Representatives.

An interesting outcome was that no women were elected to parliament, even though there were more female than male voters registered.

See also:

Three new nobles elected to nine Nobles seats [2]

Tonga elects all-male parliament with nine new People's Reps [3]