By Pesi Fonua

IF all things will work out as scheduled, Tonga should have a new Prime Minister Designate by Monday or Tuesday next week; but it might also have something that was not planned and that is a "Two Party" system.

On Thursday, December 16 the nominations for a Prime Minister Designate from among the 26 elected Members of Parliament will be closed.

Then the Interim Speaker, Lord Tupou is allowed three days to convene the House so that the 26 Members may choose their Prime Minister. Because December 19 is a Sunday, it is expected that the House will meet on Monday December 20.

Difficult process

This Second Round of our historical 2010 Parliamentary Election is a much more difficult process than the first round of polling by the people on November 25. Now, in the Second Round, only the 26 new members vote and they have a limited number of potential leaders to choose from.

The second round is to be decided by the 17 members elected by the people and the nine members elected by the nobles who have to decide among themselves who will be Prime Minister Designate and then he will eventually decide who will take the key roles in the new government.

Not so long ago, before the House closed its 2008 session, when the new system was being drawn up, there was an understanding that political decisions in the new Tongan parliament would be based on consensus, and that idea gave us hope, perhaps na ïvely, that common sense would inspire the 26 members to nominate the best leader among themselves to lead the country during these very difficult times. No one doubts that Tonga faces immense social, political and economic challenges in the four years ahead.

But so far, the concept of a parliament that will rule by consensus appears to have been pushed aside in the quest by individual politicians for political power, and Party Politics has suddenly emerged, despite the fact that Tonga has no laws to regulate political parties.

The two principles of Consensus and Party Politics are in conflict.

Waiting public

Fortunately, among the newly elected Members of Parliament are some of the so-called "reformers", "democrats" and "architects" of the newly-reformed system of government that we are embracing with so much hope.

It is fortunate that they were elected because now there has never been a more opportune time for them to tell the waiting public how, exactly, do they expect this new system that was promoted as being a minority government, democratic and consensus-based, to work?

Because what we are actually staring at in the lead-up to the first convening of parliament appears to be a Two Party System of government with two groups struggling for power.

Party men

Most interestingly, two of the candidates for this election Sitiveni Halapua who won a seat, and Sione Fonua who did not, were members of the Commission that drafted what Sitiveni called the "Road Map for Political Reform in Tonga" and they might remember that it was consensus politics and not party politics that was promoted at the time.

But then during the November 25 election both Sitiveni and Sione were involved in the two main unofficial political parties that were competing for the 17 People's Representatives seats.

The public might be forgiven for feeling confused.

So the architects of the new system now should explain why the principle of a parliament making decisions based on consensus has vanished?

Political Party

The contest now is between the 11 affiliated members of the "Paati Temokalati 'a e 'Otumotu Anga'ofa" (PTOA) facing a reactionary alignment of 15 members made up of the nine Nobles' Representatives and six People's Representatives who yesterday called themselves the Nobles and Independent MPs (IMPs).

Because both groups appear uncertain about the affiliation of the individuals who will be voting for Prime Minister it means that we will not know who really has the majority until the secret ballot is called next week.

In the meantime, both groups are trying to establish a government.

The PTOA has released a list of their proposed "Cabinet of National Unity" with 'Akilisi Pohiva nominated as Prime Minister and Sitiveni Halapua as Deputy PM. They are trying to attract support from the other side by offering cabinet posts for some Nobles and People's Representatives. The PTOA has offered Lord Tu'ivakano the post of Minister of Education and Lisiate 'Akolo his current job back as Minister of Labour

But at the same time it is understood that Lord Tu'ivakano has also been nominated for Prime Minister by the IMPs bloc.

In the meantime, the spokesperson for the IMPs bloc is the Minister of Justice in the current care-taker government and the elected People's Representative for Constituency No. 15, Samiu Vaipulu.

At a press conference yesterday afternoon, December 14, Samiu stated that the IMPs do not support the latest move by the PTOA to form a Cabinet of National Unity due to a number of basic differences including:

"i. the party system of government which is yet to be recognized by the Tongan legal system;
ii. the [PTOA's] MOU as the nobles and IMPs have their own specific constituency priorities;
iii. their lack of faith and confidence in the [PTOA's] leaders ability to lead the country."

The situation that our reformers, democrats, and politicians have led us to now, is that instead of Tonga putting into place a minority government according to the Reformed Political System that the country has spent an enormous amount time and money on designing, Tonga is now going to have, a majority government in Parliament that will put a dictator into power.

This direction is being imposed onto a system that was designed for consensus because Tonga has no legislation to regulate political parties.