Joe Natuman

Mr Nautman had planned to stand in the Tanna constituency under the Vanua'aku Pati ticket next week.

However, the electoral office rejected his application to run, because he is still serving a suspended sentence for which he lost his parliamentary seat in 2018.

Mr Natuman sought a review of the rejection but the Supreme Court declined to hear it.

His two year sentence finishes on 16 March - three days before the election.

The Vanuatu Daily Post reports the Commission rejected the former president of the Vanuaaku Pati due to his guilty plea in a high profile conspiracy case.

Meanwhile two other former Prime Ministers - Pentecost candidate, Ham Lini of the National United Party and Malekula candidate Sato Kilman of the People's Progressive Party - have both qualified to contest.

The names of over 230 candidates have been approved to contest the election.

This followed Natuman's conviction for perverting the course of justice, for which he was given a two-year suspended sentence.

The custom reconciliation ceremony, involving an exchange of mats and drinking kava together, was witnessed by Natuman's successor as Deputy Prime Minister Bob Loughman as well as other senior party leaders.

The Daily Post newspaper reported Mr Sae saying it was not an easy decision for him to make to maintain the solidarity of the government while at the same time making sure that he followed the law in his position as speaker.

The Court of Appeal last week upheld a decision by the Speaker of Parliament to declare the Tanna MP's seat vacant.

This followed Mr Natuman's conviction for perverting the course of justice, for which he was given a two-year suspended sentence.

A by-election is expected to be held on Tanna within the next two months, with a date to soon be announced by the Electoral Commissiner.

Mr Natuman, who was deputy prime minister before his ejection from parliament, said his Vanua'aku Pati planned to contest the by-election.

The decision means Joe Natuman was no longer an MP and a by-election will be held on the island of Tanna.

Natuman had appealed against the decision by the Speaker, Esmon Saimon, to declare his seat vacant.

Mr Saimon's decision followed Natuman's conviction for perverting the course of justice, for which he was given a two-year suspended sentence.

But the court has decided that a suspended sentence is still a prison sentence, so under the constitution, Natuman's seat had to be declared vacant.

Vanuatu's Natuman to appeal seat being made vacant

Mr Natuman was convicted on two counts of perverting the course of justice and given a two-year suspended sentence.

The Daily Post newspaper said based on this ruling the speaker declared Mr Natuman's Tanna electorate seat vacant.

Mr. Natuman's appeal is among 26 appeal cases, to be heard from next week.

Another includes former members of parliament jailed for conspiring to defeat the course of justice.

Joe Natuman resigned last week after the Speaker of Parliament barred him from entering the chamber and declared his seat vacant.

The speaker's decision followed Mr Natuman being given a two-year suspended sentence in March, after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Yesterday, the magistrate's court rejected Mr Natuman's bid for a judicial review challenging his removal from parliament.

Outside the court, Mr Natuman said he would appeal to the Supreme Court.

Mr Natuman is on a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

The charge was in relation to a bitter dispute that engulfed the police force in 2014.

Mr Natuman, as then-prime minister, ordered the then-commissioner, Aru Maralau, to stop a police team from investigating other high-ranking officers accused of mutiny.

Joe Natuman and the former police commissioner, Aru Maralau, are on trial in the Supreme Court, accused of trying to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Natuman is accused of trying to stop a police team from investigating high-ranking officers, including Mr Maralau, when he was prime minister in 2014.

But their lawyer, Nigel Morrison, sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that the prosecution did not establish that there was any criminal intent to interfere.

Yesterday, Ishamel Kalsakau moved the motion in an attempt to remove Joe Natuman from attending any session ahead of a court case next month.

Mr Natuman faces trial for conspiracy relating to a 2015 decision to call on police investigators to cease a mutiny probe into a former police commissioner.

Mr Kalsakau said he spoke to the speaker, Esmon Simon, about the motion on Wednesday, but it was rejected in parliament yesterday.