Results for Tongan Parliament

The six “Urgent Bills” of the Prime Minister that the House was supposed to deal with when it extended its proceedings from 14 March to 27 March, remain in limbo.

After a rush by the Tonga Government to hold a parliament session yesterday 5 March in order to address the urgent needs of the country, it was decided that Parliament will have a two-day break as the Kingdom receives New Zealand’s Prime Minister Hon. Jacinda Ardern who arrives tonight for a one-day visit. Parliament will resume on Thursday 8 March.

A Vote of No Confidence in Tonga's Prime Minister and his Cabinet was handed out by the Speaker, Lord Tu'ivakano, to the Tongan Parliament this afternoon before the House closed today at 4:00pm.

An amendment to Tonga’s Traffic Regulations relating to fees for “licences for all private motor vehicles” and some driving licences, was passed by the House on Monday, in spite of the fact that it contained a number of ambiguities. From the House by Pesi Fonua.

We and the Government I led were opposed to ratifying CEDAW. We, the Government of the day, subsequently agreed to have a full and frank debate in the House, following the receipt of a petition introduced to the House by some of the people’s representatives. – Lord Sevele ‘o Vailahi.

The election of Tonga's next Prime Minister will take place at 10:00am Monday, 29 December at the Parliament House, the Interim Speaker, Lord Tupou announced this morning.

An attempt by the Ministry of Justice to reform Tonga's judicial system is on hold, awaiting HM King Tupou VI's consent to amendments of the Constitution and the Judicial and Legal Service Commission Act, that were passed by Parliament at the end of August. A constitutional review has found that "The provisions in the Constitution relating to the Judiciary are particularly laking in both structure and content to the extent that they are not only unworkable but are totally incompatible with the principles of constitutional monarchy and democracy upon which the new Constitution of 2010 was supposed to have been founded." By Pesi Fonua.

'Akilisi Pohiva, the People's Representative No. 1 for Tongatapu has been declared the recipient of the Defender of Democracy Award for 2013, by the Parliamentarians for Global Action PGA.

The Tonga Parliament has over-spent its budget by 7% and it could not afford to pay its staff who had worked overtime, the Speaker, Lord Fakafanua told the House before it closed its three-days special session on Tuesday evening, 12 March.