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Solomon Islands election delay raises concerns

FORUM Staff

Postponing the Solomon Islands’ general election is the most recent move that has observers questioning the Pacific Island government’s commitment to democracy and pondering its growing relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, pictured center, in early September 2022 called for rescheduling the election from 2023 to 2024, ostensibly so it would not conflict with hosting the 13-day Pacific Games in late 2023. Parliament amended the nation’s constitution to allow the postponement.

Critics said the delay deprives citizens of a timely vote. “There was never any need to choose between holding the elections and hosting the Pacific Games,” opposition leader Matthew Wale said in early September 2022, according to Reuters. “There is no worthy reason but a power grab by the prime minister.”

The Pacific Games are held every four years for athletes from Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Countries. The PRC is building seven venues and stadiums in the Solomon Islands for the games that support the prime minister’s winning proposal submitted to the Pacific Games Council.

Sogavare rejected Australia’s offer to pay for the election, originally planned for between May and August 2023. “This is an assault on our parliamentary democracy and is a direct interference by a foreign government into our domestic affairs,” he said, according to the Australian Financial Review. A number of countries, including the United States, support the conduct of free and fair elections.

The election postponement follows a security agreement between the Solomon Islands and the PRC in late April 2022. Australia, other Pacific Island Countries and the U.S. worry the largely secretive pact, which allows Chinese security forces to be deployed to the Solomons to quell unrest, might be a prelude to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army establishing a naval base there.

Critics worried that protesting the election delay could spur Sogavare to summon Chinese security forces. That might create instability, leading to another election postponement or Sogavare further consolidating power, according to a U.S. Institute for Peace report in early September 2022.

Both Sogavare and the PRC could benefit from prolonging his term, according to The New York Times newspaper. Sogavare has served as prime minister three times previously, never remaining popular enough to complete a term, the newspaper reported.

Some observers contend the PRC is gaining too much sway in the Solomon Islands, partly by offering money to members of Parliament for their discretionary use. “This is corruption … China is keeping this government together,” Ruth Liloqula of Transparency International, an anti-corruption organization, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC).

The PRC has interests in logging, mining and telecommunications in the island nation, the ABC reported. Some locals and outside critics worry Chinese firms, which generally employ Chinese workers, will run up bills the Solomon Islands can’t pay and ultimately gain control in the strategically critical Pacific nation.

Dr. Anna Powles, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University in New Zealand, noted the Solomon Islands are positioned along key lines of communication, including those afforded by undersea cables. An author and researcher with expertise in geopolitics, security and conflict in the Pacific Islands, she has closely followed the PRC’s push into the region, according to the ABC. “There is deep concern in Australia that any kind of foreign force in the Solomons would present a direct security threat to Australia,” she said.

The election delay is the latest in a string of high-profile controversies that began in September 2019 when Sogavare switched the nation’s diplomatic relations from self-governed Taiwan to Beijing. Following a peaceful protest, rioting erupted in the capital, Honiara, in November 2021, according to The Diplomat magazine. Demonstrators called for Sogavare to step down.

The following month, Sogavare survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

While Beijing has gained influence, the U.S. is seeking to enhance its relationship with the Solomon Islands. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration plans to reopen an embassy in the Solomon Islands, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele in mid-September 2022 at the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders in Hawaii. They discussed the election delay and the importance of democratic values, as well as strengthening the nations’ relationship, Reuters reported.

IMAGE CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES

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