Results for Parliament

Hon. Pohiva Tu‘i‘onetoa (68), one of two candidates nominated, was elected 15-8, this afternoon as Tonga’s new Prime Minister, by 23 elected members of the Tongan Parliament in a secret ballot. (Updated to correct age).

Tonga may have a new Prime Minister by the end of the September. The Speaker of Parliament on 26 September will read out nominations and call for the 25 members of parliament to elect a new Prime Minister.

Tonga's ailing Prime Minister Hon. 'Akilisi Pohiva (78) has a paramount concern: the succession of his leadership. He now faces opposition to the government he has headed since the elections of November 2014. There is rivalry and turmoil. He feels challenged. The reform is not what he imagined. He warns of clashes. Matangi Tonga Editor, Pesi Fonua talks to the Prime Minister about why, nine years after the reform, the PM remains at odds with the new system that parliament voted for in 2009.

Finding a quorum to enable the Tongan Parliament to proceed with its 2019 session has been an issue since it was scheduled to resume on 5 August. There is much work for the House to do. The Ministry of Education presented its annual reports from 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. From the House by Pesi Fonua

Tonga’s $599.27 million Pa’anga 2019-20 National Budget was passed by the Tongan Parliament yesterday 27 June with 12-6 votes. From the House by Pesi Fonua

There was vociferous debate in the House on Monday, 24 June after the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance, Tevita Lavemaau, tabled a report of the Committee on the 2019-2020 National Budget. Parliament has only two working days left, 26-27 June to pass the National Budget. From the House by Pesi Fonua.

Yesterday in Parliament the Minister of Finance, Hon. Dr Pohiva Tu‘i‘onetoa, to the surprise of the House, called his 2019-20 balanced budget “just a dream”, during the budget debate on 18 June 2019.

A national budget of $599.27 million Tongan Pa’anga was tabled into parliament on Monday, 10 June by the Minister for Finance, Hon. Dr Pohiva Tu‘i‘onetoa. The Minister initially labelled his 2019-2020 budget as a “balanced budget”, but then settled to call it a “half-cast balanced budget”, because only 51% or $305 million is financed by the government itself. From the House by Pesi Fonua.

Tonga’s state of democracy appeared to be advancing, but with regards to the state of Tonga’s economy, there is a lack of “vision”, King Tupou VI pointed out when he opened Tonga 2019-20 Parliamentary Session this morning, 30 May 2019.