BY CAROL-ANNE SULEGA
ALL Members of Parliament (MP) will convene at the National Parliament to elect the country’s new Prime Minister (PM) today at 9.30am.
Candidates vying for Prime Minister are MP elect for Hograno/Katova/Kia/Havulei (HKKH) Jeremiah Manele and MP elect for Aoke-Langalanga Matthew Wale.
Manele is the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation (GNUT)’s candidate while Wale is for the Coalition for Advancement Reform and Empowerment (CARE) and Unite Party (UP) coalition that now has the addition of Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (SIPRA) collaboration.
It is the prerogative of all elected MPs to elect the Prime Minister (PM) by way of secret ballot. According to the Constitution, if any candidate should at any ballot receive an absolute majority of votes he shall thereby be elected Prime Minister.
The Constitution further states that if no candidate should receive an absolute majority of votes at the first ballot a further ballot shall be held wherein (a) the candidate who received fewest votes at the first ballot shall thereby be eliminated; or (b) if there is a tie between two or more candidates for the fewest number of votes received at the first ballot, the Governor-General shall decide by lot which one of such candidates shall be eliminated.
If in a second ballot no candidate should receive an absolute majority of votes, further ballots shall be held until one candidate receives an absolute majority of votes.
If, after one or more ballots, all candidates save two have been eliminated, only one further ballot shall be conducted to decide the election between these two candidates at which the candidate receiving the greater number of votes shall be elected Prime Minister.
If the ballot conducted in accordance with the preceding subparagraph results in a tie between the two candidates, one further ballot shall be conducted to decide the election between these two candidates and if there is a tie between them again, the Governor-General shall countermand the election and the election procedure shall be commenced de novo.
No ballot shall be held within a period of less than six hours after the conclusion of the preceding ballot.
The public has been urged to remain calm and collected to allow the process to take its course and to respect the outcome of today’s results.
