San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Leader gets wish to delay election, angering critics
HONIARA, Solomon Islands — When Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare bet big on China, cutting the Solomon Islands’ ties with Taiwan and signing a bundle of secretive agreements with Beijing, critics worried that the budding friendship would weaken the Pacific Island nation’s young democracy.
Last week, his opponents say, Sogavare validated their fears: He pushed through Parliament a constitutional amendment that delayed next year’s national elections until 2024. That means he will face voters at what could be a more advantageous time for him, after the Solomon Islands hosts the Pacific Games, an international sporting event to be held in a complex that China is building.
“The bill does not in any way inhibit or prohibit the right to vote,” Sogavare said as he opened debate in Parliament with a speech that portrayed the postponement as a minor issue. He added that his government continued to “uphold the principles of democracy and uphold national interests.”
Sogavare, whose coalition government has a clear majority in Parliament, had been laying the groundwork for the delay for months, claiming that the country could not afford to hold both the vote and the Pacific Games in the same year.
Opposition leaders argued that the Solomon Islands could and should do both. Australia’s foreign minister said her government had offered to pay for the elections to be held as scheduled, expanding on similar assistance that Australia
A construction crew works at the site where China is building a stadium in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. The facility is to be used in the Pacific Games set for next year.
had offered in the past.
“The government is saying it’s a one-off to accommodate the Games, but many of us look at that as an excuse,” Peter Kenilorea Jr., the deputy opposition leader, said in an interview. “It’s directly linked to China’s influence, and trying to keep certain people in power.”
The Chinese Embassy did not respond to requests for
comment. But while prolonging Sogavare’s tenure might benefit China, which has increased its focus on the Pacific and signed a security deal with his government this year, analysts and local observers believe that the main driver of the delay is the prime minister.
“He thinks he’s saving the Solomon Islands,” said Archbishop Chris Cardone, the leader of the Roman Catholic
Church in the island nation. But, he added, “the prime minister is really acting like a dictator in the model of Xi.”
Whatever its cause, the election delay is another setback for a country of 700,000 people and nearly 1,000 islands, and a potential spark for social unrest.