Solomon Islands: Bill to postpone elections raises concern

To explain the postponement of the elections, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare evokes a lack of means and the hosting of the Pacific Games the same year.

AFP/Archivos

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1 min

A bill aiming to delay the elections for at least seven months has been submitted to Parliament which is due to examine the text on 5th September next.

The approach of a government that has shown itself in recent months as close to Beijing, worries its political opponents.

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To justify this bill, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare evokes the lack of means to organize elections and host the Pacific Games in the same year.

Absurd, objects the opposition, which denounces an amendment to the Constitution for only two weeks of competitions.

Indeed, the Pacific games will take place at the end of 2023 while the elections must be held within four months after the dissolution of Parliament in May next year.

If the bill passes, elections will not take place until 2024 at the earliest.

An obvious denial of democracy for the opposition.

Last year,

shook the archipelago against the Chinese economic presence and to demand the resignation of Sogavare.

Recently, the head of government concluded a

fuzzy

, arousing the disapproval of the United States and Australia, which are worried about the implications of a Chinese military presence in a highly strategic area also coveted by these two countries.

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• Solomon Islands