2010 Solomon Islands general election

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All 50 seats in theNational Parliament 26 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Democratic Party Steve Abana 10.49 12 +9 OUR Party Manasseh Sogavare 10.24 4 New SIPRA Job Tausinga 3.43 4 0 DDP Dick Ha'amori 2.40 3 New IDP Snyder Rini 1.67 2 New RDP Danny Philip 1.32 2 New RUPP Samuel Manetoali 1.29 1 New Liberal Party Derek Sikua 1.25 1 −1 People's Congress Fred Fono 0.70 1 New Independents – 62.19 20 −10 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before Subsequent Prime Minister Derek Sikua Liberal Party Danny Philip RDP

General elections were held in theSolomon Islands on 4 August 2010.^[1][2] The election date was announced in May 2010 by Prime MinisterDerek Sikua.^[3] Although the announcement was deemed to be premature, as only the Governor General has the authority to announce the election date upon the advice of the Electoral Commission,^[4] the election date remained the same.

There were a total of 509 candidates, including 25 women.^[5]

The event was overseen by internationalelection observers connected with theUnited Nations International Election Observation Coordination Team. The elections were described as peaceful, although strong concerns were expressed aboutvoter registration irregularities.^[6]

25 incumbents were returned and 25 were replaced (including three seats where the incumbent chose not to recontest and one seat that was vacant due to the death of Edward Huni'ehu). Of the 50 MPs, most are relatively inexperienced: 45 have served less than two terms in office. The five long-serving MPs are Job Dudley Tausinga (entering his 7th consecutive term), Danny Philip (5th term), Snyder Rini (4th term), Manasseh Sogavare (4th term) and Gordon Darcy Lilo (3rd term).

On 11 August 2009, lobbying was reportedly in progress, as several political groups jockeyed to form acoalition government, with three main camps forming.

The first camp was built around the outgoing government led by Derek Sikua. One of its spokespeople, Matthew Wale, claimed on 13 August that the group has the support of five parties and 30 MPs including theSolomon Islands Democratic Party (12 MPs), theSolomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (4), theSolomon Islands Liberal Party (1), thePeople's Congress Party (1), and six independents. This camp was based at the Heritage Hotel.^[7]

A second camp was based around three parties: theOwnership, Unity and Responsibility Party led by former Prime MinisterManasseh Sogavare (4 seats); theDirect Development Party led byDick Ha'amori (3); and theReform Democratic Party led by former Deputy Prime MinisterDanny Philip (2). This camp was based at the Pacific Casino Hotel.^[7]

A third camp was led by the newly establishedIndependent Democratic Party (IDP) led bySnyder Rini, and was based at Honiara Hotel. The IDP's party secretary Leonard Kaitu'u explained that the IDP was the successor to a previous party, theAssociation of Independent Members.^[8] Kaitu'u has suggested that their camp will also get support from the People's Alliance Party (PAP) and the Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (SIPRA).^[9] It was thought possible that SIPRA would decide to join with the Heritage Hotel camp. A spokesman for the group denied that cash incentives were being used to secure members for the coalition.^[10]

Danny Philip was narrowly elected thePrime Minister on 24 August 2010, with 26 votes to 23 for his rival, the Democratic Party'sSteve Abana.^[11]

In a victory speech following the Prime Ministerial election, Philip stated that his first priority would be to form a new government.^[11] He said his government would actively support the country's Constitutional Reform process.^[11] This had been one of his central campaign pledges, and the reason why he had formed the Reform Democratic Party.^[12]

Upon naming his cabinet, he appointedManasseh Maelanga as hisdeputy.^[13]

• 2010 elections in Oceania
• Elections in the Solomon Islands
• 2010 in the Solomon Islands

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