Jeremiah Manele, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, is attempting to subvert constitutional norms by refusing to convene Parliament over a no-confidence motion that gathered 28 of 50 MPs, despite the direct ruling of High Court Chief Justice Albert Palmer that he had to, with Manele instead pushing forwards an appeal. This is very significant, both for the consistency with which each Solomonese PM has been removed mid-term thus far, and due to him making moves that have already been classed as putting him in contempt of court. This is an older article, with there being an expected convening on May 6th, but this is still groundbreaking, especially considering the significance of its backers, which includes former Deputy Prime Minister Bradley Tovosia. Considering recent overtures between Honiara and Beijing, it is also significant to see a major figure behind this fall, even if his likely successor is also Sinophilic. It is probably better to have some stability to avoid replicating Peru – since independence in 1978, there have been 19 separate Prime Ministers – but actively subverting constitutional norms like this is a dangerous direction to go in, I would argue.
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Jeremiah Manele, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, is attempting to subvert constitutional norms by refusing to convene Parliament over a no-confidence motion that gathered 28 of 50 MPs, despite the direct ruling of High Court Chief Justice Albert Palmer that he had to, with Manele instead pushing forwards an appeal. This is very significant, both for the consistency with which each Solomonese PM has been removed mid-term thus far, and due to him making moves that have already been classed as putting him in contempt of court. This is an older article, with there being an expected convening on May 6th, but this is still groundbreaking, especially considering the significance of its backers, which includes former Deputy Prime Minister Bradley Tovosia. Considering recent overtures between Honiara and Beijing, it is also significant to see a major figure behind this fall, even if his likely successor is also Sinophilic. It is probably better to have some stability to avoid replicating Peru – since independence in 1978, there have been 19 separate Prime Ministers – but actively subverting constitutional norms like this is a dangerous direction to go in, I would argue.