Solomons goes to the poll in August

Alfred Sasako


 

Solomon Islands’ estimated 270,000 eligible voters go to the poll on August 4, with the nation’s rural voters expected to be the battleground for would-be politicians.
This year’s election is the ninth since this archipelago of some 1,000-plus islands located northeast of Australia, attained nationhood from Britain thirty-two years ago.
Expectations and hopes for real change are high. Many view the election as “very crucial” for providing a new roadmap for this emerging economy, an economy that has barely broken through the parameters of the nation’s urban centres.
After so many governments since independence, voters say government policies have barely touched billions of dollars worth of natural resources which have been locked away in the rural areas, which account for around 85 percent of the population.
It is their hope that a new government installed after the election will usher in a new leadership team—a team the public will see as being equal to the task of rebuilding the nation’s shattered economy over the next four years.
While economic development issues are expected to dominate, Solomon Islands’ past is being put under the microscope of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a measure intended to shake off its past and face head-on the challenges of the third millennia.
It is a hard ask. Not that there’s a lack of external support but because each of the eight governments elected in the last three decades had failed to deliver on its promises, largely because of political instability caused by no-confidence votes.
The rural population remains largely untapped and continues to survive on slush and burn agriculture, a practice that’s been partially blamed for global climate change and environmental-related ills.
No one is game enough to say just yet who or which party would emerge as a potential contender to lead a new government. This is partly because Solomon Islands has never ever produced a political party that won an election with a clear majority to form a government in its own right. Consequently, political parties often had to sacrifice policy intentions as a compromise for coalition governments—all at the expense of real change.
It explains why Coalition governments have ruled Solomon Islands since political independence from Britain on July 7, 1978. Pundits say the outcome of this year’s election won’t be different, despite the fact that political parties have mushroomed the nation’s political landscape since the beginning of this year.
An unprecedented number of political parties, 14 at the last count, has so far registered to contest the election. The last to launch was caretaker Deputy Prime Minister, Fred Fono, who launched his People’s Congress Party in mid-June.
His boss, caretaker Prime Minister Sikua launched his two-member Liberal Party campaign by a mere one-page advertisement in a local newspaper, a sure sign money and perhaps membership are almost impossible to come by.
But unlike past elections, there’s even a Women’s Party that will contest this election. A record number of candidates are also expected to contest when nominations close on July 10.
The influx of political parties seems to have supported the view that this election will again produce yet another coalition government.
Just who will be in the political marriage remains a puzzle, although policy intentions have provided sufficient indications as to which parties might be in a coalition after the August election.
The rush to register political parties was largely influenced by a proposed legislation, said to be hastily put together by the Office of Prime Minister at the behest of foreign governments.
Called the Political Integrity Bill, it is intended to stop fence-hopping and cross party movement by politicians who in most cases do so to fatten their own nests, rather than on principle.
Importantly, proponents argue, its passage would have ensured political stability—a good omen for businesses and investments.
But all the good intentions came unstuck when, with the help of some government ministers, the bill was soundly defeated on the floor of Parliament, just two days before the 8th Parliament was dissolved on April 24.
Prime Minister Sikua went red and moved swiftly. Against advice to keep his government intact in its dying days, Sikua announced the sacking of five of his senior ministers, including Finance Minister, Snyder Rini, and controversial environment minister, Gordon Darcy Lilo—both from the Western Province bloc. He later went on public television to name individual parliamentarians he considered “unfit” to represent their people in Parliament.
Party manifesto
Justice Minister, Laurie Chan, a one-time foreign minister and the son of a powerful businessman whose hotel served as the incubator for the formation of Sikua’s government only two years ago, was also axed.
Observers say the removal of the trio, Rini, Lilo and Chan, effectively ended the powerful, behind-the-scene hand of the kingmaker that Laurie’s father, Sir Thomas Chan, once was. 
Sikua believed the ministers had colluded with the backbench to defeat the Political Party Integrity Bill 2009, a charge those removed have vehemently denied.
Observers say the Prime Minister’s action provided the final “resting place” for the Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement [CNURA] government, which won power in a vote of no confidence in December 2007.
Despite the resurgence in political parties, there’s little in party manifestos to capture the nation’s imagination, partly because the people here have heard it all before, and partly because the outgoing government was known for encouraging and practicising cash handouts, a practice that has been linked to accusations of corruption and vote-buying.
There are what appear to be little snapshots of intentions here and there. For example, the Direct Development Party [DDP], one of the newer parties with a radical yet a simple platform, is proposing a transaction tax to replace all existing taxes.
While some say its back-to-basics policy approach is “radical” and perhaps revolutionary, DDP’s manifesto is the only document that has identified problem areas and the solutions to deal with the problems.
One observer has described DDP’s manifesto as “the best” of the lot.
As the nation goes to the poll, one thing is upper most on the minds of the registered voters: who will lead this economically submerged ship for the next four years.
A survey conducted in one of the three constituencies in the capital, Honiara, produced some interesting results.
It puts Sogavare at the top of the pack. Incumbent Dr Sikua and his deputy Fono, both occupy second and third placings respectively, according to the survey undertaken by Pasifiki Services Ltd in March this year.
The author of this article was fourth in line for the top post, the survey of registered and non-registered voters found, although it didn’t say what influenced the respondents’ choices.
It will be an interesting election, which will be watched by friends and foes alike of Solomon Islands.