19 Jun 2009

Vanuatu parliament elects Korman as new speaker

1:04 pm on 19 June 2009

Vanuatu's parliament has elected a former Prime Minister, Maxime Carlot Korman, as the new speaker.

This follows the formal removal of George Wells from the role in a vote of no-confidence yesterday.

Mr Korman, who is the President of Vanuatu's Republican Party, had earlier defected from the opposition to help secure a majority for the Prime Minister, Edward Natapei, as he fended off a motion of no-confidence in his government.

Our correspondent, Len Garae, says Mr Korman served as the country's first Speaker before Vanuatu gained independence in 1980.

"And so he knows the procedures like the back of his hand and in fact he (wrote and) read his own promise yesterday evening. He crossed over to join the government side a couple of days before the Speaker was removed by a vote of no-confidence."

Len Garae