By Katalina Siasau

Lord Nuku, has been eliminated from the Noble's candidates for Tonga’s General Election "due to pending legal matters,” the Electoral Supervisor Pita Vuki said today.

The final tally of registered Tongan voters closed at 64,707 but only Tongans present in the country can vote for the People’s Representatives in tomorrow’s General Election. This means that overseas workers cannot vote unless they come home.

No campaigning is allowed in a  24 hour blackout period awaiting Election Dayon Thursday 20 November.

"There is nothing to do now, we are just waiting for election day," Electoral Supervisor Pita Vuki told Matangi Tonga.

Regarding the elimination of Lord Nuku, he said, “The information we received from the court on registration day was initially satisfactory, but we were later advised that legal matters were still pending.”

Vuki was unable to provide further details on this, but he believed this information can be obtained from the court registrar.

With the elimination of Lord Nuku, the total number of candidates for the nobles is down by one, to now 12, contesting the nine noble's seats. Some nobles who hold multiple estates are registered as candidates in more than one island group.

Lord Nuku is the incumbent noble representative of ‘Eua to Tonga's Legislative Assembly.

Of the nine noble's seats in the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, three seats are reserved for Tongatapu, one for 'Eua, two each for Ha'apai and Vava'u, and one for the Niuas.

Tonga's nobles will vote for their candidates in a separate ballot. Tonga has 33 hereditary noble titles, with some holding more than one title. There are also five Life Peers that can stand and cast votes in the Noble's Election.

Meanwhile, Vuki said the number of People's Representatives candidates is unchanged at 71, as none have been eliminated.

Eligible voters

The final tally of registered Tongan voters is 64,707.

Vuki said 49% are male and 51% are female.

The majority or 70% of voters are in Tongatapu, and 30% are in the outer islands.

Decline in turnout

Vuki expressed concern on the declining trend of voters turnout in previous general elections in Tonga.

He said there was a 91% turnout in the 2010 election, but had been declining since.

The turnout for the last election in 2021 was 62%. “For this election, we hope that the turnout would at least match that or at least improve," Vuki noted.

He also stressed two major concerns that may affect the voter participation. He said Tongans who will be travelling outside of the country on election day cannot cast a vote. Vuki was concerned because Tonga is not able to facilitate for Tongans overseas who want to vote but are unable to because of our law.

"Due to current law, we cannot facilitate for citizens overseas to be able to vote. Only Tongans present in the country on election day can vote.”

He was also concerned about registered voters who choose not to vote and who were not interested in voting.

Black out period

Tonga has officially entered the 24-hour blackout period, which began at 9:00 am this morning.

During this time, candidates and their supporters are prohibited from any form of campaigning.

Posters and flyers around the Nuku'alofa area have been taken down this morning.

"There will be no form of campaign, whether it's in meetings, on radio, TV, or even on the internet,” Vuki said.

However, Tongatapu 2 candidate, Semisi Sika and his supporters gathered in town for one last campaign, with loud music and posters.

Meanwhile, polling stations are in nearly every village throughout Tonga. The voting hours are from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm.

Vuki noted that polling stations will count and read out their results at their respective stations after voting closes.