Transcript
INA VAKAAFI: Eleven village seats were contested and eight members retained their seats. There are three new ones. One is actually undecided so for the village of Hakupu they have now voted in Michael Jackson in place of Young Vivian. Michael isn't new, he has contested before and he's also a former common roll member so he won't be new to the legislative assembly. Mona Ainuu contested the last election for the village of Tuapa and this time around she has been successful. There were four candidates for Tuapa and it's good to see that the 23 who voted for her before, she maintained that number and the rest of the votes were divided by the other three candidates. For Mutalau there was a tie between Makaseau Ioane and Maureen Melekitama so we will have to wait and see the recount and if it remains at a tie then it will need to draw from a hat. So those are some of the surprises. In the common roll, one from the previous six, he lost his seat, that was Togia Sioneholo and he's been replaced by O'love Jacobsen and she had only just returned home but she also has experience. She's been in a common roll seat before. This time around she topped at number one. But in terms of changes, especially at common roll (level), it seems like the island still prefers those who were on the common roll previously.
SALLY ROUND: So preferring to stick with what they know rather than going for any of those new faces?
IV: Yes, because there were so many new faces and there was so much potential in some of the .... but because there were so many names to choose from, those votes ended up being split out. There was a saying earlier this week that people are voting with their heart and not their heads. The community ties, the family ties , that all comes into play when there's elections.
SR: That tie is between a man and a woman. If she gets in that could be an unprecedented five women in the 20 seat legislature, so a quarter of the legislature potentially women. What's been the reaction to that?
IV: It's very hard to gauge right now what the reaction is. Throughout this week ahead, I'm sure people will have more time to give comment about what they think or how they think the elections went because each time when we talk about wanting change, I'm not sure what kind of change because we seem to see the same people come out on top when there's the vote. Maybe with more women in there there could be a shift, that's what we're looking for. Now it's going to be a numbers game where those who would like to go for the premiership would need to rally up the numbers, start lobbying and I'm sure lobbying would have started last night until it's time to select a Speaker and then find out who will be the next premier.
SR: How many are likely to go for the premiership? We know O'love Jacobsen's thrown her hat in the ring and Sir Toke (Talagi) has also said he would be seeking a fourth term.
IV: Yes those are the two that have made their intentions known. Definitely with Sir Toke and O'Love there's two very strong contenders and Sir Toke had 12 (assembly members behind him) before. Now he could be looking at 14 if he manages to get support from some of these new members because the three people that lost their seats were actually three of the most vocal members of parliament in the opposition, although we don't have opposition parties, but they were opponents to the ruling government at the time. Now without those three voices it will be interesting to see where will allegiances lie.
