PORT VILA – Vanuatu’s opposition has filed a counter-attack motion of no-confidence in the new prime minister, Sato Kilman, less than 24 hours after it was ousted by Kilman in a no-confidence vote.

In an instant response, the new opposition, led by a smarting Joe Natuman, launched the counter-offensive in an attempt to reverse the power play.

The notice, signed by 10 MPs, has been lodged with parliament’s speaker and will be debated this coming Thursday.

Natuman’s former government, now the opposition, says the change of government and Kilman’s appointment undermines the need for stability as the nation struggles to recover from the devastation caused by cyclone Pam.

It says the potential of losing cyclone reconstruction programmes, which were put together by the ousted Natuman government, outweighs petty politics as the confidence of donor partners will be affected.

It also argues that – with the majority of the new government implicated in a bribery case currently before the Supreme Court – the new ministerial line up will be tempted to interfere in the judicial process.

Next week’s new motion will need the support of 27 MPs for it to be successful. At least two MPs will need to switch loyalty.

For the moment, Vanuatu has a new look government after Natuman was removed on Thursday.

The man in charge is the wily veteran Kilman, who was sacked as foreign minister by Natuman last week.

It will be Kilman’s third time serving as prime minister in Vanuatu over the last five years.

While such upheavals aren’t uncommon in Vanuatu politics, this week’s change comes at a crucial time for Vanuatu in the midst of planning for its recovery from Cyclone Pam.

Word of a no confidence motion had been circulating for weeks in the lead-up to Thursday’s sitting of parliament, but the Natuman government was confident it had the numbers to stay on, having survived three previous no confidence attempts in the past year alone.

But on the day, three MPs crossed the floor to the opposition, giving it the numbers to pass the motion by 27 votes to 25. A subsequent vote elected Kilman the new prime minister.

A key minister in the ousted Natuman government, Ralph Regenvanu, says the government was completely blindsided by the numbers.

“We were taken by surprise. When the time came for the motion three of our MPs crossed the floor, they got up from their seats in parliament, presented their letters of resignation, and then crossed the floor.”

One of those to cross the floor was Osea Nevu, who was made a cabinet minister only last week after Kilman was dumped by Natuman as foreign minister in an attempt to shore up stability.

Former lands minister Regenvanu says Natuman had to have been “set up” by Nevu.

“Yes. He was a brand new minister for a few days. So it was obviously a setup that we were taken in by.”

But one of the key movers of the motion, Moana Carcasses, who was dumped as prime minister after a no-confidence motion in 2014, has defended the ousting of the Natuman government.

One of the reasons cited for the ousting includes the suspension of 16 opposition MPs from parliament last year over allegations that Carcasses gave the MPs US$10,000 each to support a motion against Natuman.

Carcasses has always maintained that the money was given as “loans” and the subsequent suspension of the recipients was undemocratic.

“It’s my money, I can dispose of my money as I wish. It’s not government money or whatever. I decided to make some loans for my MPs in the opposition. I don’t see why he suspended us, he’s wrong. Anyway, the court will rule on that.”

But Regenvanu says the case against Carcasses involves serious bribery allegations and he believes the latest motion was done in an attempt to derail the court case.

Carcasses has denied this, saying there were other reasons for the motion, including the distribution of aid by the Natuman government after Cyclone Pam, which devastated much of the country in March.