Bribery claims in Vanuatu elections

PORT VILA – An anti-corruption group in Vanuatu said it is collecting evidence and written testimonies of alleged bribery during last week’s snap election.

Voters across the Pacific nation cast their ballots in the January 22 general election, which was called after the country was rocked by a corruption scandal involving 14 government MPs.

Transparency International (TI) Vanuatu, one of several groups tasked with monitoring the polls, said its observers received numerous reports of illegal activities.

Chairman Dr Willie Tokon told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat they will be submitting a report of these allegations to the electoral commission.

“We’ve been hearing reports of people giving out money to certain people to influence the vote,” Tokon said.

“We have a former MP who is alleged to have given $10,000 vatu ($123) for a children’s party,” he said, as well as “allegations of people giving roofing iron to certain people in the community, and reports of a family threatening to close down a school if a certain candidate was not elected.

“We’re asking them to write it down and gather other evidence that they have to pass on to authorities.”

The Commonwealth Observer Group’s chairman, Hubert Ingraham, earlier said the polls had been peaceful and managed well.

But Tokon said the five-person delegation was not able to assess the full picture, and “in the islands it is a little bit different”.

“The Commonwealth observer team has left,” Tokon said. “They observed mainly in Port Vila and Santo, which was very transparent. Most of these allegations are coming from the smaller islands in the rural areas.”

Pita Vuki, Tonga’s commissioner and supervisor of
elections who led the Pacific Islands Forum’s observer mission, said he saw nothing to match the claims being made by TI Vanuatu.

But he acknowledged his team only observed polling stations on the main island
of Efate, one of 80 across the archipelago.

“What we were required to do on this mission was to meet a number of stakeholders before the elections, and on election day we visited polling stations to see the electoral process there,” he told Pacific Beat.

“We found the elections were conducted in a free and fair manner.”

Preliminary results show several senior politicians have lost their seats, while the major parties have also been largely wiped out.

It is believed there will be up to 13 parties and nine independents in the 52-seat parliament.

Vanuatu’s electoral commission is expected to announce official results later this week.

- Pacific Beat