General elections were held in

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

on 30 October 2012.Country Profile
IFES The previous elections to the 52-member

Parliament of Vanuatu The Parliament of Vanuatu (; ) is the unicameral legislative body of the Republic of Vanuatu. It was established by chapter 4 of the 1980 Constitution, upon Vanuatu's independence from France and the United Kingdom. The functioning of Parlia ...

were held in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. The largest parties in this election were the socialist

Vanua'aku Party The Vanua'aku Pati () is a democratic socialist political party in Vanuatu. History The party was founded on 17 August 1971 by Walter Lini as the New Hebridean Cultural Association, renamed later that same year as the New Hebrides National Part ...

, which won 11 seats, and the

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

National United Party (8 seats). Thirteen other parties as well as four independents won parliamentary seats. As a result,

Edward Natapei Edward Nipake Natapei Tuta Fanua`araki (17 July 1954 – 28 July 2015) was a Vanuatuan politician. He was the prime minister of Vanuatu on two occasions, and was previously the minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in 1991, the acting president of ...

of the

was able to become the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. Since then, both Serge Vohor of the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Union of Moderate Parties The Union of Moderate Parties () is a liberal political party in Vanuatu founded in 1981. At the last general election, held on 22 January 2016, they won 9.73% of the vote and 6 seats. It is currently headed by Ishmael Kalsakau. The party's inf ...

and

Sato Kilman Meltek Sato Kilman Livtuvanu (born 30 December 1957) is a Vanuatuan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Vanuatu on four previous occasions, most recently from 4 September to 6 October 2023. he was previously prime minister from Decembe ...

of the People's Progressive Party have held that position, with Kilman being the incumbent Prime Minister of Vanuatu at the time of the 2012 election.

Electoral system

The 52 members of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

will be elected in 17 multi-member constituencies, using the

single non-transferable vote Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote. Being a semi-proportional variant of first-past-the-post voting, under SNTV small parties, as well as large parties, have a chance t ...

. Candidates had to be at least 25 years old, and could not have an undischarged prison sentence or bankruptcy.Electoral system
IPU They also required the support of at least five registered voters in their constituency, and had to put down a non-refundable 50,000

vatu The vatu (abbreviation: VT;The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu.Current Banknotes and Coins in Circulation" Accessed 2 March 2013. ISO code: VUV) is the currency of Vanuatu. It has no subdivisions. Etymology The term ''vatu'', used in all three off ...

deposit. The

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, judges, magistrates, civil servants, police officers, teachers and members of the National Council of Chiefs were all ineligible for election to Parliament.

Campaign

346 candidates from 32 political parties contested the 52 seats. There were 344 polling stations throughout the country, including 12 in the capital city,

Port Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the ...

. Over 192,000 citizens were eligible to vote in the 2012 election, with 34,998 registered voters in the capital city. The election was being observed by representatives from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, as well as the High Commissioner of New Zealand to Vanuatu,

Bill Dobie Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law) A bill is a proposal for a new law, or a proposal to substantially alter an existing law. A bill does not become law until it has b ...

. The international observers will submit a report on the election to the Vanuatuan government once the election is completed.

Conduct

Following the election, Attorney General Ishmael Kalsakau alleged that three ministers, including

Moana Carcasses Kalosil Moana Carcasses Kalosil (born 27 January 1963) is a Vanuatuan politician. He was Prime Minister of Vanuatu from March 2013 to May 2014. He was the first naturalized citizen of Vanuatu to become the country's prime minister. Carcasses was ousted ...

, engaged in

vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor h ...

to secure several seats in

Results

By constituency

Subsequent by-elections

* 2013 Tanna by-election, following the death of Harry Iauko, Iauko Group MP for Tanna. By-election won by his son Pascal Iauko (Iauko Group) *

2015 Port-Vila by-election A by-election to the Parliament of Vanuatu was held in the constituency of Port-Vila (the capital city) on 15 October 2015. It followed the death of sitting MP (former Prime Minister, and incumbent Leader of the Opposition) Edward Natapei, of the c ...

, following the death of

, Vanua'aku Pati MP for Port-Vila. The by-election was won by Kenneth Natapei for the Vanua'aku Pati.

References

{{Vanuatuan elections Elections in Vanuatu

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...