Edward Natapei, who has been attending the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago, missed three consecutive sittings without submitting a suitably authorized written explanation for his absence.
Under Vanuatu’s law, this means he must forfeit his seat.
The nation will now be ruled by a caretaker government and a by-election will be held in his constituency.
It is the first time in Vanuatu’s history that Parliament’s speaker has sanctioned a prime minister in this manner.
Speaker Maxime Carlot Korman was set to be replaced after his Vanuatu Republican Party was ousted recently from the coalition government.
