The operation of the single non-transferable vote system in Vanuatu

Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 296-332

  Van Trease, Howard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEMOCRACY; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; PARTY POLITICS; POLITICAL INSTABILITY; POLITICAL THEORY;

MELANESIA; PACIFIC ISLANDS; PACIFIC OCEAN; VANUATU;

EID: 33748261407     PISSN: 14662043     EISSN: 17439094     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14662040500304833     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (74)

1. This does not include the election in 1977, which the Vanua'aku Pati boycotted and seats were therefore awarded without contest.
2. B. Grofman, S.-C. Lee, E. Winckler and B. Woodall (eds.), Elections in Japan, Korea and Taiwan under the Single Non-Transferable Vote: The Comparative Study of an Embedded Institution (Michigan: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1999), 14-15.
3. Grofman et al. (eds.), Elections in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, x-xi.
4. D. Shineberg, They Came for Sandalwood: A Study of the Sandalwood Trade in the South-West Pacific, 1830-1865 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1967).
5. R.C. Thompson, 'Commerce, Christianity and Colonialism: The Australian New Hebrides Company, 1883-1897', Journal of Pacific History, 6 (1971), 25-38.
6. D. Shineberg, The People Trade: Pacific Island Labourers and New Caledonia, 1865-1930 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999).
7. R. Bedford (ed.), Population of Vanuatu: Analysis of the 1979 Census (Noumea: South Pacific Commission, 1988), 88.
8. D. Scarr, Fragments of Empire; A History of the Western Pacific High Commission, 1877-1914 (Canberra & Honolulu: Australia National University Press & University of Hawaii Press, 1967).
9. W. Lini, Beyond Pandemonium: From the New Hebrides to Vanuatu (Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1983).
10. H. Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics: Stael Blong Vanuatu (Christchurch: Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies & Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1995), 3-6.
11. H. Van Trease, The Politics of Land in Vanuatu (Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1987), 127-68
12. B. Hours (1974), 'Un Movement Politico-Religieux Néo-Hébridais: Le Nagriamel', Sciences Humaines, XI/3-4, 227-42
13. J.M. Stevens, 'The Nagriamel Movement', in Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, 227-33
14. M.K. Tabani, Les Pouvoirs de la Coutume à Vanuatu, traditionalisme et edification national (Paris:-L'Harmattan, 2002), 164-97.
15. It should be noted that Jimmy Stevens was, in fact, English-speaking as were many of his followers. The political link between Nagriamel and the Francophone parties came about as a result of the successful efforts of French officials to contain the activities of the movement which were detrimental to French interests. Its focus in the early days was to win back control over alienated land, the vast majority of which was in French hands.
16. Correspondence with Keith Woodward, June 2004.
17. Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu, Chap. 4, Para. 28(5).
18. Of the multi-member districts, four have two seats, one has three seats, two have four seats, one has six seats and three have seven seats (see Table 4). These figures have changed since independence. There were 39 seats in the 1979 election, 46 in 1987, 50 in 1995, and 52 in elections since 1998.
19. Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu, Chap. 14, Para. 86.
20. Grofman et al. (eds.), Elections in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, 14-15.
21. Ibid., x-xi.
22. Van Trease, Howard The Politics of Land in Vanuatu, pp. 224-9.
23. Ibid., pp. 229-32.
24. J. Jupp and M. Sawyer, 'New Hebrides 1978-79: Self-Government by Whom and for Whom?', Journal of Pacific History, 14 (1979), 208-20.
25. A further Luganville seat was obtained after an independent Natui Tano joined the majority when parliament met, giving the government a total of 26 seats.
26. The Phoenix Foundation was a conservative, Libertarian organisation founded in 1975 by an American, Michael Oliver, following an abortive attempt to take over the island of Abaco in the Bahamas. He then turned to the New Hebrides as a possible location to establish a 'new country' and sought to influence political developments by providing financial and material support to Jimmy Stevens and Nagriamel. See Van Trease, The Politics of Land in Vanuatu, 148-55
27. and J. Beasant, The Santo Rebellion: An Imperial Reckoning (Richmond, Victoria: Heinemann & Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1977), 44-71.
28. Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, pp. 40-47
29. and J. Guiart, 'The Vanuatu Experience: (2) Cancer of the Colon', South Pacific Business News (November 1980), 9-13.
30. Quoted in Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, p.44.
31. See also: La Presse Cale'donienne, 10 Nov. 1980, Letter from Philippe Delacroix to Dijoud. In this letter, Delecroix (one of the leaders of the Santo Rebellion) denounced Minister Dijoud for abandoning the rebels after having given them the go-ahead to proceed.
32. Women have seldom secured election to parliament. At both the 1987 and 1995 polls, only a single woman was elected, both of whom represented Port Vila constituencies. At the 2002 polls, a woman was elected on Epi, a two-seat constituency. She was returned, along with a second female candidate, at the 2004 polls.
33. M. Sahlins, 'Poor Man, Rich Man, Big-Man, Chief: Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 5/ 5 (1963), 289.
34. The Vanuatu Independent Alliance Party (VIAP) obtained only 3.9 per cent of the national vote in 1983 and 0.7% in 1987, while the National Democratic Party secured 1.6 per cent of the vote in 1987.
35. Jimmy Stevens had become a member of the Church of Christ and, as a result, some Church of Christ areas that supported Nagriamel did not affiliate with the VP, but instead usually allied themselves with the UMP.
36. Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, 131-3.
37. Ibid., 73-102
38. B.T. Sope, 'The Melanesian Progressive Party', in Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, 211-16
39. and A.T. Sokomanu, 'A Presidential Crisis', in Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, 217-24.
40. Jack Scantlin came to Vanuatu several years before, purchased an expensive waterfront home and acquired the confidence of Lini, who arranged for Scantlin to acquire Vanuatu citizenship after only three years' residence, creating a controversy since the process by law requires ten years. The Prime Minister's office also announced his appointment as advisor to the Telecommunication Authority.
41. V. Boulekone, 'The Politics of Tan-Union', in Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, 201-4.
42. Boulekone, 'The Politics of Tan-Union', 201-4.
43. Barak Sope paid for Jimmy Stevens to travel to Australia for health care.
44. Regenvanu was another of the original VP team who had remained loyal to Lini, left the VP to join NUP and was re-elected to his seat on Malakula. (Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, 151-8).
45. R.R. Premdas, and J.S. Steeves, 'Vanuatu: The 1991 Elections and the Emergence of a New Order', The Round Table, 323 (1992), 339-57.
46. Vanuatu Government, Fourth National General Elections, 1998.
47. The Provision of Bank Guarantees given in the Sum of US$100,000,000, in breach of the Leadership Code and Section 14(f) of the Ombudsman Act and related matters thereto (3 July 1996) in Ombudsman of Vanuatu: Digest of Public Reports.
48. K.J. Crossland, The Ombudsman Role: Vanuatu's Experiment, State Society and Governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper, Canberra: Research School of Pacific And Asian Studies, ANU, 2000.
49. D. Ambrose, 'A Coup that Failed? Recent Political Events in Vanuatu', Discussion Paper 1996/03, State Society and Governance in Melanesia Project, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 1996.
50. Public Report on the Abuse of VNPF Tendering Procedures by VNPF Board and Management (19 June 1997) in Ombudsman of Vanuatu: Digest of Public Reports.
51. Vanuatu Government, Fifth National General Elections, 1998.
52. Report on the Nambawan Bottle Shop Case (20 August 1996) in Ombudsman of Vanuatu: Digest of Public Reports.
53. Vanuatu Government, Sixth National General Elections, 2002.
54. M. Morgan, 'Converging on the Arc of Instability? The Fall of Barak Sope and the Spectre of a Coup in Vanuatu', in R.J. May (ed.), 'Arc of Instability?': Melanesia in the Early 2000s (Christchurch: Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, 2003).
55. Vanuatu Daily Post, 10 May 2004.
56. Vanuatu Government, Seventh National General Election, 2004.
57. Vanuatu Daily Post, 8 July 2004.
58. Vanuatu Daily Post, 7 July 2004.
59. The Independent, 16 July 2004.
60. At one point the Natapei and Vohor groups both claimed to have signed memoranda of understanding, which would have meant 63 MPs, when there was only a total of 52.
61. There was an immediate threat of a vote of no confidence to be led by a GC member who was upset at not being granted a ministry.
62. Vanuatu Daily Post, 4 Sept. 2004.
63. Ibid., 5 Nov. 2004
64. Ibid., 14 Dec. 2004
65. The best known and respected method of calculating the extent of disproportionality is Gallagher's Index, where the differences between the percentage of the vote secured by each party and the percentages of seats gained by each party are squared, then added, and the total divided by two. The square root of the resultant number gives an index of percentage disproportionality between votes and seats secured. M. Gallagher, 'Proportionality, Disproportionality and Electoral Systems', Electoral Studies, 10/1 (1991), 33-51.
66. The report of an Elections Observer Group at the 2002 polls sponsored by Transparency International and its local branch identified a number of ways in which the voting process itself could be improved, but did not recommend electoral system change. See Shirley Randell (ed.), Republic of Vanuatu National Elections, 2 May 2002: Report of the Elections Observer Group. A Joint Electoral Commission/Transparency International Vanuatu Project. (Port Vila: Blackstone Publishing, 2002).
67. John Lynch, Pacific Languages: An Introduction (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998), 34.
68. For the Solomon Islands, see J. Fraenkel, The Manipulation of Custom (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2004), Table 11.1, 132
69. for PNG, see H. Okole, 'The "Fluid" Party System of Papua New Guinea', this volume, Table 5.
70. The low figure of only 1% in 2004 may reflect the fact that the election was sudden, came unusually early (only two years after the previous polls) and was the result of significant rivalry within the parties, which may have motivated the existing sitting members to decide to stay the course and compete for their positions.
71. For a similar calculation of incumbent turnover in the Solomon Islands, see Fraenkel, The Manipulation of Custom, Table 11.1, 132.
72. For PNG, see Okole, 'The "Fluid" Party System of Papua New Guinea', Table 3.
73. This was clearly the reason for the defeat of the two UMP candidates in the 2004 election on the island of Ambae (see above) and part of the current VP problem is the demand by some supporters for the older leaders to step aside to give younger members a chance (Vanuatu Daily Post, 22 July 2004).
74. Van Trease (ed.), Melanesian Politics, 115-18.