China unsure of foothold in the Pacific after election
China’s push for influence over the Pacific hangs in the balance after a chaotic election in the Solomon Islands, where counting has been delayed after ballot boxes were lost at sea and incorrect forms were handed to some voters.
Crowds waited anxiously outside the main vote-counting office in the capital, Honiara, on Thursday as electoral officials said there might not be a result until next week.
The election will decide the future of Manasseh Sogavare, the prime minister of the Solomons, a chain of islands in the western South Pacific 900 miles northeast of Australia.
It has also become a test case for China and America’s battle for influence in the Pacific, well beyond what the country’s population of 700,000 might suggest.
Sogavare, whose controversial security pact with China has been one of the election’s central issues, remains holed up in his outer-island constituency, silent since Wednesday’s vote.
In the five years he has held power, Beijing has poured money into the islands, building a NZ$105 million sports stadium, a hospital and roads. In return, in a move that has alarmed his nation’s traditional allies, Australia and the US, Sogavare has signed a security agreement that has allowed Chinese police into the country and opened the way for a Chinese military presence on Australia’s doorstep. He has also dropped his nation’s recognition of Taiwan.
In the outermost reaches of the volcanic archipelago, ballot boxes were still making their way to provincial hubs yesterday (Thursday) for counting, potentially delaying some results by days. Officials also said that some ballot boxes had been “damaged” in rough seas and that scores of voters had been handed the wrong ballot papers.
In the first post-election update on Thursday, Jasper Anisi, the chief electoral officer, said there would be a heavy police presence at counting centres across the country.
Tensions grew as Fijian and Papua New Guinean soldiers kept crowds at bay outside the main vote-counting centre in the sweltering capital, which is on the main island of Guadalcanal.
Shirly Tabius, 42, a charity worker, was among those waiting for news. She said she hoped that the election would provide a new leader to deal with a stalled economy, growing poverty and high unemployment. “We need change,” she said. “Things are very hard here for women. We are not respected.”
Lawrence Adriels, 34, a teacher, said: “We are fed up with this whole government. The people here feel left out.”
Madeline San, 52, said: “Our youth don’t have job opportunities. That causes many big social problems in our communities. There is much unrest here. People are very poor.”
Hundreds of defence personnel from Australia and New Zealand are on the ground in the Solomons to assist with the election but also to meet the possible threat of violence in the capital. In 2021, crowds opposed to Sogovare stormed the parliament and torched Honiara’s Chinatown quarter, home to many Chinese businesses and shops.
A large team of security guards has been placed outside the Chinese embassy and a high steel wall hastily erected around the building – reflecting, according to security sources, fears in Beijing that a Sogavare victory might lead to more anti-Chinese riots.