Bob Loughman Weibur (born 8 March 1961) is a

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 ...

an politician who served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu between April 2020 and November 2022.Vanuatu elects new prime minister as country reels from devastating cyclone
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 20 April 2020.Vanuatu Parliament Votes In New Prime Minister
''

Barron's ''Barron's'' (stylized in all caps) is an American weekly magazine and newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp, since 1921. Founded as ''Barron's National Financial Weekly'' in 1921 by Clarence W. Barron (1855–19 ...

'', 4 November 2022.

Career

A member of the

Vanua'aku Pati 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 ...

, he was first elected to

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 ...

as MP for Tanna in the

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 ...

on 6 July 2004. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2012. In March 2013, following a change in government, new Prime Minister Moana Carcasses appointed him Minister for Education. Like other members of the Vanua'aku Pati, he crossed the floor on 15 May 2014 to help bring down the Carcasses government. New Prime Minister Joe Natuman maintained Loughman at his post as Minister for Education. He lost office on 11 June 2015 when the Natuman government was ousted in a

motion of no confidence 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 fi ...

. From 2018 he is the leader of the

. From 20 April 2020 to 4 November 2022, Loughman was in office as

Prime Minister of Vanuatu The prime minister of Vanuatu is the head of government of the Vanuatu, Republic of Vanuatu. The office of prime minister was created under the Constitution of Vanuatu upon the country's independence in 1980, with independence campaigner Walt ...

Diplomatic conflict with Indonesia over West Papua

Loughman is an open critic of the Indonesian government's handling of the situation in the West Papua region, and supports the cause of the separatist West Papuans. During the 2020 United Nations General Assembly address, Loughman called out Indonesia over human rights violations in the region, prompting a response from Indonesian diplomats who labeled his speech as having an "excessive and unhealthy obsession" with the cause of West Papua and accused Loughman of meddling in Indonesia's internal affairs.

2021 no-confidence vote

On 1 June 2021, the opposition filed a no-confidence vote against Loughman over alleged excessive spending in the situation of national crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vanuatu and the impact of

Cyclone Harold Severe Tropical Cyclone Harold was a very powerful tropical cyclone which caused widespread destruction in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga during April 2020. It was the first Tropical cyclone scales#Australia and Fiji, Category 5 ...

last year, both things which have negatively impacted Vanuatu's economy. This became the first attempt at ousting him in a country where analysts say, no-confidence votes are commonplace. Following the boycott of parliament by government MPs for three days, partly to avoid the motion of no confidence, speaker Gracia Shadrack declared on 8 June 2021 that the seats of Loughman and 17 other MPs were vacant.

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice Oliver Saksak put a stay on the speaker's ruling until a court could formally consider the dispute. On 18 June 2021, Saksak confirmed that 19 government MPs including Loughman had lost their seats. An appeal court also rejected the MPs case in July 2021 but the 19 MPs finally won in the appeal court on 28 October 2021, keeping their seats.

2022 no-confidence motion

A new no-confidence motion was avoided in August 2022 by Vanuatu's president dissolving Parliament at short notice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loughman, Bob 1961 births Living people Government ministers of Vanuatu Members of the Parliament of Vanuatu Prime ministers of Vanuatu People from Tafea Province Vanua'aku Pati politicians 21st-century Vanuatuan politicians