Sir Iakoba Taeia Italeli is a Tuvaluan politician who was the
governor-general of Tuvalu
The governor-general of Tuvalu is the representative of the Tuvaluan monarch, currently King Charles III, in the country of Tuvalu.
The governor-general performs the monarch's duties in Tuvalu. The constitutional convention is that the govern ...
from 16 April 2010, until 22 August 2019,
when he resigned to contest in the
2019 general election.
He was not successful in that election, however he was elected as a member of parliament in the
2024 Tuvaluan general election
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 26 January 2024. There are no political parties in Tuvalu and all candidates run as independents.
Two major issues in the election were the Falepili Union treaty, which requiries both Tuvalu and Aust ...
.
He is also a former
attorney general of Tuvalu who served from 2002 to 2006. He was the
chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
of the
University of the South Pacific
The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the gov ...
from July 2014 to June 2015.
In 2022 Italeli ran as Tuvalu's candidate to be the next
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
Secretary-General. The aim was to fill the potential vacancy created if incumbent
Patricia Scotland
Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, (born 19 August 1955), is a Dominican-British barrister and politician who served as the sixth Commonwealth Secretary-General, secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2016 to ...
were to be prematurely disendorsed by a majority of member states, and to institute a pro-climate action agenda for the entire Commonwealth.
At
CHOGM 2022
The 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Kinyarwanda: ''2022 Abayobozi ba Commonwealth Inama ya Guverinoma''; French: ''Réunion des chefs de gouvernement du Commonwealth 2022''; Swahili: ''Mkutano wa Wakuu wa Serikali wa Jumuiya ya Mado ...
in Kigali, Rwanda, Italeli withdraw after an initial straw poll the votes were ultimately spit between Jamaican candidate
Kamina Johnson Smith
Kamina Johnson Smith is a Jamaican of Afro-European heritage, attorney-at-law and Senator. Johnson Smith is Jamaica's first female Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Since 2016, Johnson Smith has served concurrently as Minister of F ...
and Lady Scotland, who was victorious and stayed on as Secretary-General.
Career
Prior to entering politics, Italeli served in the Tuvaluan police force for two decades.
He worked his way up from constable to deputy commissioner.
In 2001, Italeli graduated from the
International Maritime Law Institute
The IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) was established in 1988 under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. Its mission is to train specialists in maritime law. The Institu ...
at the
University of Malta
The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association, ...
. He was appointed as acting Attorney General in 2002, a position kept until 2006.
First term in parliament
Italeli ran for public office for the first time in the
Tuvaluan general election in 2006. He won the election, and became the representative of the
Nui district in the
Parliament of Tuvalu
The Parliament of Tuvalu (called ''Fale i Fono'' in Tuvaluan language, Tuvaluan, or ''Palamene o Tuvalu'') is the unicameral parliament, unicameral national legislature of Tuvalu. The place at which the parliament sits is called the ''Vaiaku man ...
, a position kept for 4 more years.
He also served as the Minister of Education, Sports and Health, in the government of 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 ...
,
Apisai Ielemia
Apisai Ielemia (19 August 1955 – 19 November 2018) was a Tuvaluan politician who served as the tenth Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2006 to 2010. He also held the role of Foreign Minister.
Ielemia was returned as a member of parliament in the ...
.
He remained as minister until 2010 when he was appointed as governor-general.
Italeli was elected to represent
Nui in the
Parliament of Tuvalu
The Parliament of Tuvalu (called ''Fale i Fono'' in Tuvaluan language, Tuvaluan, or ''Palamene o Tuvalu'') is the unicameral parliament, unicameral national legislature of Tuvalu. The place at which the parliament sits is called the ''Vaiaku man ...
on a non-partisan basis; this lack of alignment is not unusual in the
politics of Tuvalu
The politics of Tuvalu takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the monarch is the head of state, represented by the governor-general, while the prime minister is the head of government. Executiv ...
; unusually for
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
, Italeli represented a constituency where
trilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monoling ...
is a feature, since many inhabitants of Nui originate from
Kiribati
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
, and thus speak
Gilbertese
Gilbertese (), also known as Kiribati (sometimes ''Kiribatese'' or ''Tungaru''), is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in Kiribati. It belongs to the Micronesian branch of the Oceanic languages.
The word ''Kiribati'', the current name of th ...
, in addition to
Tuvaluan and English, the fluency of which varies among local people.
His younger brother,
Isaia Italeli
Isaia Italeli Taeia (1960s – 19/20 July 2011), more commonly known as Isaia Italeli, was a Tuvaluan politician.
He was elected to Parliament as MP for Nui in the September 2010 general election, at which time his elder brother, Sir Iak ...
, was elected to Parliament, also as MP for Nui, in the
September 2010 general election, and subsequently became
Speaker
Speaker most commonly refers to:
* Speaker, a person who produces speech
* Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound
** Computer speakers
Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* "Speaker" (song), by David ...
, then Minister for Works and Natural Resources in the
Telavi Ministry
The Telavi Ministry was the 13th ministry of the Government of Tuvalu, led by Prime Minister Willy Telavi. It succeeded the Second Toafa Ministry upon its swearing in by Governor-General Iakoba Italeli on 24 December 2010 after a vote of no c ...
.
Governor-General
In 2010, Italeli was appointed
Governor-General of Tuvalu
The governor-general of Tuvalu is the representative of the Tuvaluan monarch, currently King Charles III, in the country of Tuvalu.
The governor-general performs the monarch's duties in Tuvalu. The constitutional convention is that the govern ...
by
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
,
Queen of Tuvalu. He was appointed as a
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...
(GCMG) on 21 June 2011.
In 2013, Italeli faced a political crisis when Prime Minister
Willy Telavi
Willy Telavi (born 28 January 1954) is a Tuvaluan politician who served as Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2010 to 2013.
Born in Nanumea, Telavi was first elected to parliament in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010. He became prime minister on 24 D ...
's government lost
a crucial by-election on 28 June and thereby lost its 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 ...
. The opposition thereafter held a majority of seats (eight to seven) and immediately called for the Prime Minister to advise that parliament be reconvened. Telavi responded that, under the constitution, parliament was required to convene only once a year and he was thus under no obligation to advise the Governor-General to summon it until December 2013. The opposition turned to Italeli and, on 3 July, he exercised his
reserve power
In a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government, a reserve power, also known as discretionary power, is a power that may be exercised by the head of state (or their representative) without the approval of another branch or part of th ...
s by summoning parliament, against the Prime Minister's wishes, on 30 July. With only five members of the governing party and eight members of the opposition party in the legislature,
the Speaker of the Parliament,
Kamuta Latasi
Sir Kamuta Latasi (born 4 September 1936) is a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu from Funafuti atoll. He was elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu in 1992. Latasi served as the 4th prime minister, and foreign minister, from 1993 ...
, still refused to allow a vote of non-confidence and
Taom Tanukale
Taom Tanukale is a Tuvaluan politician.
He began his career in national politics when he was elected to Parliament in a by-election in May 2005, as MP for Nui, following the death of his predecessor, Amasone Kilei. He joined Prime Minister M ...
, a member of Telavi's party, resigned his seat in parliament, prompting Telavi to assert that no confidence vote should be held until a by-election was conducted in Tanukale's district, but without giving a date for such an election.
[ The opposition subsequently appealed again to the Governor-General,] who then, on 1 August, replaced Telavi with the former opposition leader Enele Sopoaga
Enele Sosene Sopoaga Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC (born 10 February 1956) is a Tuvaluan diplomat and politician who was Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2013 to 2019.
Sopoaga was elected to Parliament of Tuvalu, Parliament in the 2010 T ...
as prime minister and ordered that parliament sit until 2 August to allow for the vote of non-confidence regarding Telavi's government to take place. On the same day, Telavi declared he had written to Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, the Queen of Tuvalu, advising her to replace Italeli as governor general and that Italeli "had been fired". The Queen gave no indication of her reaction to Telavi's letter, leaving Italeli's position secure.
Second term in parliament
Italeli was elected as a member of parliament for Nui in the 2024 Tuvaluan general election
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 26 January 2024. There are no political parties in Tuvalu and all candidates run as independents.
Two major issues in the election were the Falepili Union treaty, which requiries both Tuvalu and Aust ...
. He follows the path set by Sir Tomu Sione
Sir Tomu Malaefone Sione (17 November 1941 – April 2016) was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. He worked as a journalist from 1962 to 1968, and held the post of radio announcer in the Broadcasting and Information Department o ...
who returned to the parliament following his term as Governor-General.
On 27 February 2024, Sir Iakoba Italeli was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament of Tuvalu
The Speaker of the Parliament of Tuvalu is the Chairman, presiding officer of the Parliament of Tuvalu.
The annual salary of the speaker is Australian dollar, AU$ 44,004 / US$ 28,900 per year.
List of speakers
References
{{Reflist
Politi ...
in an uncontested ballot.
See also
* Politics of Tuvalu
The politics of Tuvalu takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the monarch is the head of state, represented by the governor-general, while the prime minister is the head of government. Executiv ...
* Tuvaluan constitutional crisis
References
External links
Sir Italeli Commonwealth Secretary-General campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Italeli, Iakoba
Living people
Attorneys general of Tuvalu
Governors-general of Tuvalu
Speakers of the Parliament of Tuvalu
Tuvaluan Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
People from Nui (atoll)
Members of the Parliament of Tuvalu
Year of birth missing (living people)
International Maritime Law Institute alumni