THE Solomon Islands, home to around 720,000 people, held its national and provincial elections on the 17th of April. More than 300 candidates competed for a 50-member seat in the parliament. About 420,000 eligible voters cast their ballots.
It was the first national election since Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed a security pact with China in 2022 and ended 36 years of diplomatic ties with Taiwan to switch allegiance with Beijing in 2019.
Sogavare won 49% of the vote in his East Choiseul constituency, while his competitor gained 42%, based on official results.
The high-stakes election was under close watch amid media reports on possible U.S. intervention. Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji sent troops and police forces to assist with election security.
In April 2022, the Melanesian nation signed a security agreement with China which alarmed Australia and its Western allies amid fears of a potential military buildup.
This was followed by Sogavare’s week-long visit to China that resulted in the signing of
nine agreements and memorandums, including a new deal on police cooperation in July 2023.
Hitting back at criticisms, Sogavare told Australia and the United States they have nothing to fear and that the plan only focuses on cooperation on law enforcement and police security matters. He promised not to allow a Chinese military base in his country and accused the United States and Australia of foreign interference.
“The narrow coercive diplomatic approach of targeting China-Solomon Islands relations is unneighborly and lacks respect for established international principles under the United Nations Charter. This is nothing but interference by foreign states into the internal affairs of Solomon Islands,” Manasseh Sogavare Prime Minister of Solomon Islands said.
The presence of the Chinese military in the Solomon Islands would not only make it closer to Australia and New Zealand but also near Guam – home to massive U.S. military bases. Compared to the U.S., China so far operates just one foreign military base, located on the coast of the Horn of Africa in Djibouti. In January 2023, the U.S. reopened its embassy in the capital Honiara which has been closed since 1993, in a bid to counter China’s growing influence in the Pacific nation.
Meanwhile, the overall results of the election could take days or weeks to come out due to the country’s landscape, which consists of six major islands and more than 900 smaller islands. The United States, China, and Australia closely watch as the counting of votes continues.
