A meeting of the Legislative Assembly will be held on 16 May to unseat two Members of Parliament from their seats, after their elections were voided by the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa. The date for the meeting was announced on 4 May, before a third member of parliament had his election declared void today by the Court.

Three other election petitions remain pending.

The Legislative Assembly in a press release issued on 4 May said the Speaker, Lord Fakafanua received two Court Certifications on 2 May.

This confirmed that the elections in the 18 November 2021 General Election of the respective Parliamentary Representatives for Tongatapu 10, Pohiva Tuʻiʻonetoa, and Tongatapu 7, Sione Sangster Saulala, had been voided by the Supreme Court of Tonga. 

This is the outcome of judgments on respective election petitions that were brought against Tuʻiʻonetoa and Saulala on charges of bribery. 

“The Legislative Assembly is required under the Electoral Act to unseat the two Members of Parliament from their respective seats in the Assembly, due to their elections having been voided by the Supreme Court. 

“The unseating will be carried out at this Assembly’s meeting to be held on 16 May 2022. Once unseated, the seats in Parliament for Tongatapu 10 and Tongatapu 7 will be vacant. 

“The Speaker will then issue writs for election of new Representatives for Tongatapu 10 and Tongatapu 7.”

The statement said that the date for the election of the new Representatives for the two constituencies will be determined by the Electoral Commission in consultation with the Speaker.

Election of third member void

Meanwhile, today a third Member of Parliament, Tatafu Moeaki the People's Representative for Tongatapu 4 and Minister of Finance had his election declared void, in a judgment by the Supreme Court.

Three other election petitions remain pending in Court, out of a total of the eight election petitions filed with the Courts.

Four have received judgements.