PORT VILA (Pacnews) — As Vanuatu goes to the polls, a record number of independent candidates are vying for the attention of disillusioned voters.
Despite a multi-million dollar scandal implicating a former prime minister, Vanuatu has arguably remained the most stable of all the Melanesian countries in recent years.
While Fiji to the east and Solomon Islands to the north have had coups, and Papua New Guinea has weathered a couple of military uprisings and fatal student protests, Vanuatu has been able to manage its problems without anyone resorting to guns.
But while the parliamentary system of government remains intact, it’s been under challenge, with claims of corruption, countless ombudsman’s inquiries and six prime ministers in as many years.
And there are continuing signs that many in Vanuatu are disappointed and disillusioned.
Vanuatu’s 127,000 registered voters have the opportunity to choose a total of 52 representatives from 327 candidates.
This general election has seen a proliferation of independent candidates—138 in total, compared to only 58 in 1998.
Ricky Binihi, a reporter with the independent newspaper Port Vila Press, said the high number of independents reflects frustration with Vanuatu’s economic performance.
“In a time like this when the country faces economic difficulty, our budget is still financed from aid donor money, people have their own position on…how best they can run the government.”
He says those views are not always readily accepted by the main political parties, forcing ambitious candidates to register as independents.
But that’s not the only sign of dissatisfaction in Vanuatu.
The trend from past elections in Vanuatu shows a major downturn in voter turnout.
Figures from the Vanuatu Electoral Commission show that in the last general election in 1998, only about 60 percent of those registered to vote did so.
Independent candidate and former Ombudsman Marie-Noelle Ferrieux-Patterson says citizens aren’t voting because they’re fed up with political fraud and corruption in the political system.
Ferrieux-Patterson said voters are also concerned about security over the course of the election.
In the capital Port Vila in April, supporters of one candidate attacked a restaurant owner who had removed the candidate’s election poster from outside his café. They dipped it in mud, forced him to eat it, then demanded compensation.
“People are disgusted by the fall down, the breaking down, of law and order and of the justice system,” says Ferrieux-Patterson.
