Solomon Islands lawmakers selected a new prime minister in a secret ballot on Thursday, choosing foreign minister Jeremiah Manele, who has pledged to continue the Pacific Island nation\u2019s foreign policy that saw it grow close to China.
\nGovernor General Sir David Vunagi announced outside parliament house that Manele had won 31 votes, to Opposition leader Matthew Wales\u2019 18 votes.
\nPolice have boosted security in the capital Honiara as newly elected lawmakers arrived at parliament on Thursday to vote.
\nA national election last month failed to deliver a majority to any political party, and two camps lobbied to win support from independents ahead of the vote for prime minister.
\nThe election is being closely watched by China, the U.S. and neighbouring Australia because of the potential impact on regional security, after incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022.
\nSogavare, who built close ties with Beijing during five years in power, did not seek re-election to the top political office and his party backed Manele.
\nManele said outside parliament on Thursday \u201cthe people have spoken\u201d, and called for calm.
\nManele\u2019s OUR party, which has pledged to build more infrastructure, won 15 seats, and gained four seats under a renewed coalition with two micro parties. It needed support from independents to reach 26 seats for a majority in the 50-seat parliament. A total of 49 votes were cast with one lawmaker absent.
\nLowy Institute research fellow Mihai Sora, a former Australian diplomat in the Solomon Islands, said Manele has \u201ca strong track record of working well with all international partners\u201d, compared to Sogavare who was \u201ca polarising figure\u201d.
\nAustralian National University\u2019s Pacific expert Graeme Smith said Manele was capable and \u201ca big change in style\u201d for the Solomon Islands.
\nWale, in a 20-seat coalition of opposition parties called CARE, said on Wednesday the government had failed to create jobs and the economy was dominated by logging and mining companies which shipped resources to China, while health clinics were unable to obtain basic medications such as paracetamol.
\n(Reuters)Election. foreign policy, prime minister, regional security<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jeremiah Manele was selected as the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands in a secret ballot, winning 31 votes. The election followed a national election that did not deliver a majority to any political party. Manele, who has pledged to continue the nation’s foreign policy favoring China, received support from the incumbent Prime Minister’s party. The election was closely watched by China, the U.S., and Australia due to its potential impact on regional security. Manele’s party won 15 seats and formed a coalition with two micro parties to gain majority support in the 50-seat parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[328,7379,3348,486,1793,33,26,1600,153,1392,6144,415,5098,210,7905,6403,187,28,4593,1799,7378,5328,184,4833,3175,1004,1792,2342,8171,8639,6074,827,8638,1358,618,7850,1774,2831,6305,18],"class_list":["post-10398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-australia","tag-ballot","tag-change","tag-china","tag-coalition","tag-companies","tag-economy","tag-election","tag-elections","tag-foreign-minister","tag-foreign-policy","tag-government","tag-governor","tag-health","tag-impact","tag-infrastructure","tag-international","tag-jobs","tag-office","tag-parliament","tag-parties","tag-party","tag-police","tag-policy","tag-political-party","tag-power","tag-prime-minister","tag-re-election","tag-record","tag-regional-security","tag-research","tag-security","tag-solomon-islands","tag-support","tag-top","tag-university","tag-vote","tag-wales","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n