With 31 votes out of 49, Jeremiah Manele was elected the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, after taking over the candidacy of former Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who withdrew from the race.
Solomon Islands MPs have elected former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele as the new prime minister of the South Pacific island nation, the closest to China in recent years.
The withdrawal of former pro-Beijing Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare from the race to make way for Manele as the party’s candidate is a sign that the country could follow a similar direction, the Associated Press (AP) news agency wrote.
The prime minister was elected by secret ballot among the 49 deputies who won the general elections of April 17.
Governor General David Vunagi said that Manele got 31 votes, while Matthew Wale, who led the opposition in the previous parliament, got no more than 18 votes..
During Manasseh Sogavare’s tenure, China’s influence in the Solomon Islands increased more than anywhere else in the South Pacific.
Sogavare, who in 2019 ended 36 years of bilateral diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of the People’s Republic of China, He also established a secret security pact that raised fears that the Chinese navy would gain a presence in the region..
Meg Keen, director of the Pacific Islands program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, said Manele will be a “less brash and combative leader for the West to manage, but will continue to maintain close relations.” with the West.” “Porcelain”.
“As a former foreign minister, he helped negotiate the security deal with China that caused panic in the West. But he is also a veteran diplomat with experience at the UN and in Western countries, and he is no stranger to Western involvement,” Keen told the AP.
Keen also said Sogavare withdrew from the race because the fact that the party lost several MPs in the election indicated that voters wanted change.
Source: Observadora
