Future Of Vanuatu PM Still Hangs In The Balance
During the last few weeks Vanuatu's Prime Minister,
Barak Sope, has faced an uncertain future with the threat of a vote of no-confidence
hanging over him by his government. PM Sope had lost majority support last month
when the President, Father John Bani, refused his request to dissolve Parliament
and call for new elections after Sope was widely criticised over efforts to
set up a commission of inquiry into the country's fiscal state (there is a uni-cameral
Parliament with a Westminster-model Prime Ministerial government and an elected
President). Father Bani decided to leave the decision on forming a new government
to members of Parliament and tabled a motion of no-confidence against Prime
Minister Sope. The vote of no-confidence was due to take place
last week but a new twist in the matter has seen parliamentary speaker, Paul
Ren Tari Tari, postpone the motion because it came to light that the PM was
in the middle of an appeal against the Supreme Court ruling ordering parliament
to reconvene. Some commentators have described PM Sope's decision
to get tangled up in the Supreme Court appeal as a delaying tactic in an attempt
to thwart the no-confidence vote from taking place to give him time to win back
the support of one of his coalition partners, the Union of Moderate Parties,
led by foreign minister Serge Vohor who has been very critical of the PM in
recent weeks. .
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