Source: Radio New Zealand
Jeremiah Manele was elected prime minister in May 2024. Screengrab / National Parliament of Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele has been ousted following a no-confidence vote in Honiara on Thursday.
Manele was voted out by 26 votes to 22 in parliament. There were two absentees.
Manele will remain in office and perform his normal duties until he is officially removed by the Governor-General Sir David Tiva Kapu.
Parliament has been adjourned sine die to allow time for Sir David and parliament to organise the election of the new prime minister.
Manele, who previously served as the country’s foreign minister, was elected prime minister on 2 May 2024.
It was the third challenge against Manele’s leadership – he had previously survived a motion of no confidence in April 2025 after six ministers and five government backbenchers walked away.
It brings to an end a series of events that began on 15 March, with mass resignations from one of the key coalition parties in Manele’s Government of National Unity (GNUT).
Those members who defected from the coalition formed a new opposition group of 28 MPs in the 50-seat House. The defectors included 10 Cabinet ministers.
Peoples First Party leader Frederick Kologeto told RNZ Pacific at the time that they had lost “trust within the government”.
Manele had refused to convene parliament for weeks, stating that he would do so only when the time was right, frustrating the opposition who said they had the numerical superiority to oust him.
However, an Appeal Court ruling last Friday ended the political back-and-forth, handing the prime minister a deadline to call parliament and face a leadership challenge.
Before moving the no-confidence motion, MP for South Vella La Vella, Frederick Kologeto, called on the Prime Minister to resign immediately, citing the opposition’s numerical strength.
But Manele responded by refusing by calling Kologeto “scared”, declaring he would resign but only after stating the reasons for the no-confidence motion against him.
“I have accepted this responsibility not out of personal ambition, but on behalf of a majority of members who stand united with me today,” Kologeto said.
“Party room negotiations and dialogues … proved to be futile. They were not only unhelpful, they were strategically unproductive.”
Manele concedes
In his final statement responding to fiery arguments made for and against the no-confidence motion, Manele warned the opposition leader to “be very careful of who you are dealing with and sitting next to” – a pointed shot at the defectors.
He also claimed that the Appeal Court order raises serious questions about judicial overreach into that timing and management of parliamentary business.
“[The Court of Appeal] decision, with the greatest respect to the court, risks cementing instability into our constitutional arrangements. It creates a pathway where any group of members who are unhappy with the government of the day can combine a motion of no confidence with court proceedings and then ask the judiciary to intervene in the timing and programme of parliament.”
Manele also made a last ditch attempt to woo opposition MPs to switch sides, saying his government was “willing to accommodate any political party in forming a new government”.
“We are willing to work with their party leaders, including on the issue, on the matter of leadership,” he said.
“We are willing to make that sacrifice so that the work that we have done over the past two years can continue our people and their needs.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand