An island republic in Melanesia; independent since 1980; Also called: New Hebrides.
Group of islands in the SW Pacific Ocean, part of Melanesia.
government
Vanuatu is an independent republic within the Commonwealth. The constitution dates from independence 1980. It provides for a president, who is formal head of state, elected for a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of parliament and the presidents of the country's regional councils. Parliament consists of a single chamber of 46 members, elected by universal suffrage, through a system of proportional representation, for a four-year term. From among their members they elect a prime minister who then appoints and presides over a council of ministers.
history
Originally settled by Melanesians, the islands were reached from Europe 1606 by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandez de Queiras. Called the New Hebrides, they were jointly administered by France and Britain from 1906. Vanuatu escaped Japanese occupation during World War II.
In the 1970s two political parties were formed, the New Hebrides National Party, supported by British interests, and the Union of New Hebrides Communities, supported by France. Discussions began in London about eventual independence, and they resulted in the election of a representative assembly Nov 1975. Independence was delayed because of objections by the National Party, which had changed its name to the Vanua'aku Party (VP). A government of national unity was formed Dec 1978 with Father Gerard Leymang as chief minister and the VP leader, Father Walter Lini, as his deputy. In 1980 a revolt by French settlers and plantation workers on the island of Espíritu Santo was put down by British, French, and Papua New Guinean troops.
independence
Later in 1980 the New Hebrides became independent, within the Commonwealth, as the Republic of Vanuatu. The first president was George Kalkoa, who adopted the name Sokomanu, and the first prime minister was Father Lini.
Lini pursued a left-of-center, nonaligned foreign policy, which included support for the Kanak separatist movement in New Caledonia. This soured relations with France and provoked mounting opposition within parliament. Despite the VP retaining its majority after the Nov 1987 general election, this opposition continued, prompting Lini in July 1988 to expel from parliament his rival Barak Sope. Lini was then dismissed as prime minister and parliament dissolved by President Sokomanu, who appointed his nephew Sope head of an interim government. However, the Supreme Court ruled these actions unconstitutional and security forces loyal to Lini arrested the president, Sope, and opposition leader Maxime Carlot, and reinstated the former prime minister. Fred Timakata, formerly minister of health, was elected president Jan 1989.
Opposed to Lini's autocratic leadership, the VP voted Aug 1991 to replace him as its leader, and thus as prime minister, with Donald Kalpokas, a former education and foreign minister and fellow founder of the party. Lini initially refused to stand down, but in Sept agreed to do so, expecting to return as premier in the forthcoming general election and forming the National United Party (NUP) as a vehicle for fighting it.
coalition formed
In the Dec 1991 general election none of the parties won an overall majority. The Union of Moderate Parties and the NUP finally agreed to form a coalition government under Maxime Carlot on the understanding that Lini would not be a member of the new government. Jean Marie Leye was elected president March 1994.
role in Pacific region
Externally, after independence, Vanuatu sought to promote greater cooperation among the states of the Pacific region. As part of this strategy, along with Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, it formed, in 1988, the “Spearhead Group”, aiming to preserve Melanesian cultural tradition and to campaign for New Caledonia’s independence. + prikaži više