Tonga's Prime Minister quits moments ahead of no-confidence motion in parliament
The Hindu
Tonga's Prime Minister resigns amid tensions with king, successor to be chosen by lawmakers in upcoming vote.
Tonga's Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni abruptly resigned in parliament on Monday (December 9, 2024) ahead of a planned no-confidence vote in his leadership, capping a period of fraught relations between his government and Tonga's king.
Mr. Sovaleni, who took office in 2021, did not specify a reason for his departure but his resignation halted the no-confidence motion expected on Monday. It was not immediately clear who would succeed him.
His resignation comes less than a year before a national election in Tonga, a South Pacific island nation of 105,000 people, and it highlighted the occasional tensions between Tonga's monarchy and elected lawmakers in a still-young democracy after reforms that transferred powers from the royal family and nobles to regular citizens in 2010.
A statement on the Tongan Parliament Facebook page said Mr. Sovaleni, 54, quit “for the good of the country and moving Tonga forward.” Video from Tonga's parliament on Monday showed the leader making brief and emotional remarks in Tongan before the no-confidence vote was scheduled to take place.
Mr. Sovaleni's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His leadership had survived a previous no-confidence vote in September 2023.
In recent months, Mr. Sovaleni's tenure was marked by difficult relations with Tonga's head of state, King Tupou VI. Although the sovereign's predecessor ceded power voluntarily in the 2010 democratic reforms, Tupou VI retains powers to dissolve parliament, appoint judges and veto laws.
The king at times made his dissatisfaction with Sovaleni apparent, including by withdrawing confidence in him as Defence Minister in February. Some lawmakers at first decried the king's pressure on Mr. Sovaleni and his Foreign Minister as unconstitutional, but both eventually resigned their posts in April — although Mr. Sovaleni remained Prime Minister.
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