The Union of Moderate Parties (french: Union des partis moderés) is a liberal

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

founded in 1981. At the last

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, held on 22 January 2016, they won 9.73% of the vote and 6 seats. It is currently headed by

Ishmael Kalsakau Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau is a Vanuatuan politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu since 4 November 2022. He is the head of the Union of Moderate Parties in Vanuatu. Career In 2005, Kalsakau was appointed the Legal ...

. The party's influence grew after internal difficulties caused the Vanua'aku Pati government to fall in 1991. The UMP was the governing party in Vanuatu from 1991 to 1998. Former prime ministers

Maxime Carlot Korman Maxime Carlot Korman (born 26 April 1941) is a Vanuatuan politician, formerly serving as the speaker of the Parliament and formerly as acting president. He served as the prime minister of Vanuatu for nearly five years, first from 16 December 199 ...

and Serge Vohor came from this party. However, the UMP suffered internal struggles of its own, and in the late 1990s, Corman left to form the Vanuatu Republican Party. Serge Vohor who hails from the Island Of Santo remains the president of UMP. It won 12 seats in the 1998 elections, 15 seats in the 2002 elections and 9 seats in the 2004 elections. Despite the obvious setback, Vohor was able to form a coalition government in August 2004, but lost a confidence vote four months later. From then until the 2008 elections, Vohor and the UMP sometimes were coalition partners in the Lini government, and at other times were in the opposition, serving as the largest opposition force. After the 2008 elections, the party remains an important political grouping, but is not expected to form the next government. Serge Vohor led the party from 1988 to 2022. In February 2012, he was re-elected leader of the party, prior to the general election in October. This marks a longevity record for the leadership of any political party in Vanuatu. However, in August 2022, he lost the leadership position at the UMP congress to

by a vote of 45 delegates to 22. After the party congress, Vohor left the party and formed a new party called the Pikinini Along Graon (Children of the Land) Movement. Following the October 2022 snap election Ishamel Kalsakau, who had been deputy Prime Minister in the previous cabinet, was appointed Prime Minister with the support of the previous Leader of Opposition, Ralph Regenvanu of the Land and Justice Party.

Election results

References

Political parties in Vanuatu *Main Political parties established in 1981 {{Oceania-party-stub