Aisake Eke elected as Tonga's new Prime Minister

Suva, Dec 24 (IANS) Aisake Valu Eke was elected as Prime Minister of Tonga on Tuesday, Radio Nukualofa reported.

He will replace Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, who resigned on December 9.

Valu Eke, who will be officially sworn in as Prime Minister in February, was first elected to parliament in 2010 and served as minister of finance between 2014 and 2017. He will be in office for less than a year before the South Pacific island nation of 105,000 people holds its next election in November 2025.

Tonga’s Parliament consists of 17 lawmakers elected by the public and nine who are nobles, elected by a group of hereditary chiefs. Two members of Parliament were unable to vote.

Aisake Eke studied at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, where he was awarded a PhD for his thesis "An exploratory study on the quality of service in the public sector in Tonga" completed in 2013.

A former Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, he was first elected to the Legislative Assembly at the November 2010 general election as MP for Tongatapu 5. Though close to the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands, and despite having considered running as a party member, he stood as an independent, taking the seat with 24.1 per cent of the vote and a 63-vote margin; Tongatapu 5 was thus the only constituency on Tongatapu (Tonga's main island) not to be won by the party.

In October 2011, he was one of several MPs to protest against Parliament voting large allowances to any of its members on sick leave overseas. Stating that MPs should not be spending more public money on themselves at a time when the economy was weak, he was one of eight MPs to vote against the increased allowances (along with ʻAkilisi Pohiva, Semisi Sika, Sitiveni Halapua, Sangster Saulala, Sione Taione, Falisi Tupou and Moʻale Finau, all members of the Democratic Party). The motion was adopted by twelve votes to eight.

In January 2014, Prime Minister Lord Tuʻivakano appointed him Minister of Finance, following the sacking of Lisiate ‘Akolo over a disagreement concerning the budget. He subsequently kept that position in Prime Minister ʻAkilisi Pohiva's government. In March 2017, however, he abstained during a parliamentary vote on a motion of no confidence against the government he was part of, and was compelled to resign. He subsequently lost his seat at the 2017 election.

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