A 7.3-magnitude earthquake rumbled through Vanuatu on Dec 17, rupturing roads, toppling buildings in capital Port Vila, and killing at least 14 people.
“Instability will not help Vanuatu right now, especially after the earthquake. The whole nation has been affected by the earthquake,” Port Vila candidate Mike Esrom Kaun told AFP.
Vanuatu has for decades been beset by political instability, swapping prime ministers 20 times between 1991 and 2017.
The tumult reached crisis levels at the end of 2023, when three prime ministers rotated through the top office in the space of a month.
Many in Vanuatu have grown “frustrated” with the current crop of lawmakers and the country’s near-constant democratic wobbles, Kaun said.
Vanuatu’s parliament was dissolved in November before disgruntled MPs could launch a “no confidence” motion designed to topple Prime Minister Charlot Salwai.
The motion reportedly cited a grab bag of grievances including the flagging fortunes of national carrier Air Vanuatu, a teachers’ strike, and financial transparency questions.
Vanuatu’s 52-member parliament is typically dominated by independents and micro-parties, which clump together in coalitions that rarely last a full term.
Salwai will be joined by former prime ministers Ishmael Kalsakau and Bob Loughman among the 217 candidates running for office in the election.
Election ‘distraction’
There are concerns the constant threat of instability has shifted attention away from natural disasters, the country’s faltering economy, and the ever-present threat of climate change.
Pacific analyst Riley Duke said Vanuatu’s political squabbling had derailed progress in crucial areas like health and education.
“The election really is another distraction from development priorities,” said Duke, from Australia’s Lowy Institute think tank.
“Vanuatu is a developing country with huge challenges. Its key indicators – income, health outcomes and education performance – have been declining in recent years,” he told AFP.
The volcanic archipelago – population 330,000 – is also highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as tropical cyclones, flooding and earthquakes, according to the World Risk Report.
Like many of its South Pacific neighbours, Vanuatu has been trying to balance ties with traditional security partners in the West, and an increasingly generous China.
State-backed Chinese companies have carried out a slew of infrastructure projects across Vanuatu, while Beijing last year picked up the tab for a new presidential palace.
About 40% of Vanuatu’s external debt is owed to Chinese banks, according to the Lowy Institute.
Before gaining independence in 1980, Vanuatu was a colony known as the New Hebrides that was carved up between the British and the French.