Snap 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 16 January 2025, having been moved from 14 January 2025 due to the

2024 Port Vila earthquake At 12:47:26 VUT (01:47:26UTC) on 17December 2024, a 7.3 earthquake struck near Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. At least 14 people died while 265 others were injured. Extensive damage occurred in Port Vila and surrounding areas. The earthquak ...

on 17 December. The election results showed no political party winning a majority in

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 ...

, prompting the creation of a coalition government on 27 January.

Background

The election was called after President

Nikenike Vurobaravu Nikenike Vurobaravu (born 3 December 1951) is a Vanuatuan diplomat and politician who has served as President of Vanuatu since 23 July 2022. Previously having been employed in numerous diplomatic and government positions, including as the first ...

dissolved

on the eve of a

no-confidence motion A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

against Prime Minister Charlot Salwai in November 2024. Originally scheduled on 14 January 2025, the election was moved to 16 January 2025 due to the

on 17 December. There are over 300,000 registered voters.

Issues

The most pivotal issue for many Ni-vans is how to rebuild following the December 2024 earthquake. The estimated cost to rebuild Port Vila, the nation's capital, and other areas affected by the earthquake is 29 billion vatu ($374 million). Additionally, efforts to rebuild following the earthquake only adds to the list of other disasters for which the country needs to rebuild, namely three tropical cyclones in 2023, an airline collapse, and the economic impact of COVID. Fears regarding the safety of an ability to travel may also have effects on the results. In addition to the injuries caused by the earthquake and the loss of personal property, more than 110 classrooms across 45 schools have also been damaged. Moreover the

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 ...

Central Business District remains closed. This could impact whether people feel safe to travel on damaged roads to new polling locations and whether they have the fares required to travel by bus. Additionally, political stability could be a motivating issue for some. Within the 18 months prior to the snap election, Vanuatu has experienced three

Prime Ministers 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 rat ...

. The Vanuatu Parliament experienced a series of "floor crossings" by members of parliament which led to levels of uncertainty. In an effort to prevent this from occurring, and thereby preserve political stability, Vanuatu held a referendum in May 2024 adopting two new constitutional provisions. The first would force a member of parliament who leaves or is expelled from the party under which they were elected to resign their seat which would then be filled by a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. The second would require elected independents and individuals elected as the only member of their party to join a larger party represented in parliament within three months of the first session. Both measures passed by large margins. Understanding the frustration regarding political instability, some candidates have run on a platform to end political instability with independent candidate Mike Esrom Kaun stating " ople are frustrated, are tired and realize that something has to happen and this has been amplified by the disaster that recently happened." Economic development may also be a factor for some voters. In 2024, 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 ...

ended Vanuatu's visa-free access, after previously suspending it in 2022, citing security concerns. Specifically, the EU alleged that Vanuatu has been operating investor citizenship schemes. These schemes enabled third-country nationals who would otherwise be required to have a visa when travelling to the EU to receive Vanuatu citizenship in exchange for an investment, thereby obtaining visa-free access to the EU. This created security concerns for the EU. Since the suspension revenue related to the Vanuatu's citizenship scheme has dropped.

Electoral system

The 52 members of

are elected for four years terms by

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 ...

in eighteen constituencies, ten of which are multi-member constituencies of between two and seven seats, while the remaining eight are single-member constituencies in which the member is elected through the

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

system.

Candidates

Altogether 217 candidates ran in the election, including seven women.

Conduct

Voting was held in 352 polling stations nationwide, along with one station in

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

to serve voters residing in

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, with bus shuttles organised to transport voters there. More than 1,700 officials were deployed to oversee the election, while 350 police officers were also deployed to ensure security during the election. The Vanuatu Election Office acknowledged that it had been hampered in its preparations by the surprise decision to hold the election as well as the

Results

Initial results released on 18 January showed the Leaders Party of Vanuatu with a plurality of 11 seats in parliament, followed by the Vanua'aku Party with seven seats, and Union of Moderate Parties and the Reunification Movement for Change with six seats each, the Iauko Group with five seats and the

Land and Justice Party The Land and Justice Party (; GJP) Official results were released on 29 January. Most incumbents were reelected, while at least two neophytes were elected in Port-Vila. The only woman MP in the outgoing parliament, Julia King, lost her seat in

Efate Efate (), also known as Île Vate (), is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. Geography It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third larg ...

. Only one woman was elected to the new parliament, former Port Vila deputy mayor Marie Louise Paulette Milne, who ran in Port Vila Constituency for the Green Confederation. Her husband, former prime minister

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 ...

, failed to be elected in Efate Rural Constituency. Of 31 independent candidates, only Gaetan Pikioune, who ran in Santo Constituency, was elected. On 27 January, the Leaders Party of Vanuatu, the Vanua'aku Party, the Union of Moderate Parties, the Reunification Movement for Change the Iauko Group and the Land and Justice Party agreed to form a coalition government. On 11 February,

Jotham Napat Jotham Napat (born 7 August 1972) is a ni-Vanuatu politician and a member of the Parliament of Vanuatu from Tanna Constituency as a member of the Leaders Party of Vanuatu. In February 2025 he was elected Prime Minister of Vanuatu following the ...

of the Leaders Party was elected prime minister by parliament, receiving 50 votes and two void ones.

By constituency

References

{{Vanuatuan elections

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Elections in Vanuatu