Prime Minister

The opposition leader told Parliament MPs who were behind the motion changed their mind on Thursday night and he withdrew the motion on Friday morning.

Kalsakau said he knew all along the opposition did not have the required 27 MPs to topple him.

On Friday morning the opposition only had the support of 15 MPs against 36 on the government side.

Loughman alleged the Kalsakau-led government of putting political pressures on state institutions as well as threatening, intimidating and targeting public officials.

Calo said Kalsakau has only been in his post for six months and to table a motion of no confidence against him now was not fair.

He said the PM needed to be given more time to prove that he could perform.

Kalsakau's government has had to pay millions of vatu for the wrongful terminations of the former civil servants, Calo said.

These included the Director-General of Justice Dorosday Kenneth, former Public Service Commission Chairman Martin Mahe and former Public Utilities Ministry Director-General Harrison Luen.

According to the Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper, the scheduled date for the debate is set for this Friday, May 19.

The Vanuatu parliament met briefly last Friday to start its first ordinary session of 2023.

Speaker Seoule Simeon clarified since this is an ordinary session, the motion has been deemed acceptable due to the presence of nine signatures endorsing it.

Among the signatories is the leader of the opposition Bob Loughman, who moved the motion, and Marc Ati, who has seconded it.

The meeting enabled the two leaders to discuss the current areas of cooperation and consolidate a way forward to further enhance the levels of cooperation. 

Prime Minister Rabuka said Fiji places great importance on its relations with Vanuatu and there is common interest on the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) bloc - currently chaired by Vanuatu according to a statement.  

He said Fiji looks forward to working closely with MSG to advance the development of our Pacific family. 

Rabuka was elected with 28 votes to 27.

"It was a very close margin," Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) youth forum president Ben Daveta said.

From the polls to parliament, every decision was balanced on a knife's edge.

First, no party gained an outright majority to rule.

Then it took the king-makers Sodelpa two split-votes to choose a coalition partner -- and even in the final secret ballot to elect a prime minister, someone in the opposition ranks voted for the other side.

It has been a frantic time, Daveta said.

In a statement issued from Mark Brown's office Sir Tom Marsters said he was "satisfied" that Mark Brown had the majority of the MPs elected to Parliament.

Following the final count of the Cook Islands general elections, the Cook Islands Party (CIP) gained 12 seats including the Ngatangiia seat which was initially tied between CIP's candidate Sonny Williams and Cook Islands United Party's Margaret Matenga.

Mark Brown thanked the community for a fair and peaceful election process.

The prospective government - an unprecedented coalition of parties - has a razor-thin majority of one seat.

It would also end more than two years of political paralysis in which three elections resulted in stalemate.

Right-wing nationalist Naftali Bennett is poised to become PM in a power-sharing deal with a centrist leader.

Under the coalition agreement, Mr Bennett, who heads the Yamina party, will hold office until September 2023, when he will hand over to Yair Lapid, leader of Yesh Atid, for a further two years.

Prime Minister James Marape on October 14^th met with his Solomon Islands counterpart, Manasseh Damukana Sogavare, in Port Moresby.

Economic trade and investment was among areas of mutual interest both leaders discussed during their meet in Port Moresby yesterday.

Border Security, the Bougainville Referendum, labour mobility and employment opportunities and issues surrounding the Melanesian Spearhead Group were among those high on the agenda.

This is the second time this month that PM Salwai has survived a challenge to his leadership.

When Speaker Esmon Saimon put the motion to vote this morning, 36 MPs on the government side voted against the motion, 13 MPs on the Opposition side voted in favour.

Speaker Saimon also expressed disappointment saying the calling for parliament today to debate the motion of   confidence is a waste of public money.

He says parliament only passed 3 bills out of 25 bill that were table for the second ordinary session of 2018.

Loop PNG reports O’Neill was sworn in by Governor General Sir Bob Dadae in Parliament yesterday afternoon.

After his People's National Congress emerged as the party with the most MPs from PNG's lengthy national election, Mr O'Neill has gained enough support in the parliament to begin a second five year term in the position.

The Ialibu-Pangia MP-elect was nominated by Abau MP Puka Temu, before Mt Hagen MP William Duma seconded the motion and Tari MP James Marape closed the nomination.