Vote counting underway in Solomon Islands

Vote counting is now underway here in Honiara as ballots from all over the Solomon Islands get brought back to the capital and other accounting centres for the process of determining exactly which candidates have been successful. It’s likely to be a long and sometimes laborious process. Observers say it could take a week, maybe even up to two weeks, for all the ballots to be counted and all the successful candidates to be identified. After that, Voters here and other observers are still going to be waiting for quite some time before they find out who is going to be the next Prime Minister of Solomon Islands. Successful candidates will gather here in the hotels of Honiara for the so-called camps where various potential candidates for the top job try and convince the magic number of MPs that they need to hold on to power, which is 26 and A50 strong parliament, to come over to their side. It’s typical a shifting it’s typically a shifting, unpredictable and sometimes treacherous affair as loyalties shifted and inducements are offered. Now, after this process is done, a new Prime Minister is likely to be identified. You’ll then have to try and carry that majority inside Solomon Islands Parliament. And then be enshrined as the leader. Manasseh Sukhavare probably starts this contest. That’s assuming he wins his seat in his constituency of his choice all as a narrow favorite simply because he’s the incumbent. And notionally he will likely have the largest block of successful MPs behind him. But there are murmurs that the our party may not be performing quite as strongly as it would like, particularly in provinces like Malaya. And if that’s the case, then the race for Prime Minister really does open wide up and people might start to talk about other potential contenders. Like the former Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, who’s standing here in central Honiara, or potentially even one of Mr. Sokovare’s key lieutenants who could emerge as an alternative Prime Minister, it’s likely to be a an interesting, if occasionally unpredictable process. Most voters here simply say they want to see an improvement to basic services. The opposition has run really hard on degraded health and education services here in Honiara. The opposition has made some very ambitious promises to fix them and to improve them across the country. Whether voters believe they’re capable and able to do that is likely to be a core key determining question as to whether they are likely to have a realistic chance of ousting Mr. Sovare at this at this election, one that is being very closely watched not just by people in Solomon Islands but also by the other major players, including Australia, China and the United States.