Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare seeks constitutional change to stay in power

Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare has launched a bid to remain in power beyond his constitutionally mandated four-year term.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. Picture: AFP

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has launched a bid to remain in power beyond his constitutionally mandated four-year term amid growing concerns in Australia and the US over his cosy relationship with China.

Mr Sogavare introduced a constitutional amendment into the nation’s parliament on Tuesday that would postpone the country’s next national election until after January 1, 2024 – more than eight months after it is due.

He needs a two-thirds majority to pass the amendment, which he would have based on his current parliamentary numbers.

The move comes after Mr Sogavare sensationally ordered the country’s national broadcaster to submit its stories for vetting before they were aired, so it would not report negatively on his government.

Mr Sogavare says his term needs to be extended until after the Pacific Games, to be held late next year with significant financial support from China.

Prominent opposition MP, Peter Kenilorea Jr, said everyday Solomon Islanders were outraged at the prospect of a postponed election.

“Currently, the opposition (to the extension) is universal, I would say,” he said.

“The MPs in government have been getting an earful from their voters. It’s the perception of the current government. The voters don’t want the current situation prolonged.

“It is something that is very clear in the villages, right up to the most educated Solomon Islander.”

Mr Kenilorea said he’d heard some government MPs, when they presented the proposal to their electorates, had taken security guards with them to prevent a violent backlash.

But he said Mr Sogavare was likely to use Chinese money to lock in the support of his MPs, as he had done in the past.

The Australian revealed in December last year that Mr Sogavare promised payments of $SBD250,000 ($44,000) payments from a Chinese slush fund to every MP who backed his leadership in a vote of no confidence.

“The National Development Fund – the slush fund – is one way. There are also other ways,” Mr Kenilorea said.

Pacific Minister Pat Conroy announced in Honiara on Tuesday that Australia would commit $SBD100m ($16m) to support the country’s hosting of the Pacific Games.

He denied the commitment was linked to China’s support for the Games.

“No, Australia is supporting the Pacific Games because it’s a priority of the Solomon Islands government and people, and being the development partner of choice for the Solomon Islands means listening to the priorities of the Solomon Islands’ people and government,” he said.

“We are the largest development partner for the Solomon Islands.”

The Solomon Islands’ relationships with Australia and the US have soured dramatically in recent times, amid Mr Sogavare’s increasingly close ties with China, including his unprecedented security deal with Beijing.

The agreement allows Chinese security personnel to be deployed in Solomon Islands in response to civil unrest, and is feared to open the way for a more permanent Chinese presence in the country.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute national security program director Michael Shoebridge said Australia and other Pacific nations “can’t keep pretending Sogavare wants a democracy in the Solomon Islands”.

“He’s used Chinese money and will use Chinese security forces to stay in power. Now, like dictators through history, he’s changing the constitution to avoid elections,” Mr Shoebridge tweeted.

Earlier this week, the Mr Sogavare boycotted a commemoration service, attended by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Mr Conroy, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Guadalcanal campaign.
He said his presence wasn’t required because there were no foreign heads of state in attendance.

Ms Sherman told the ABC’s 7.30 program that Mr Sogavare “will have to answer to his own citizens about why he made the choice that he did”.