Election Deferred to 2023

There has been a flurry of international media and commentary attention on Solomon Islands in recent months. Since the news broke of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s intention to sign a security agreement with the People’s Republic of China, scrutiny of his every move and word has been intense.

There have been two recent developments that have caused yet more scrutiny of the Sogavare government - the government’s intention to delay next year’s federal election and moratorium on some international ships from its ports.

Once again, too much of the reporting and commentary casts these events through the overly narrow lens of geo-strategic competition. The interplay of domestic political dynamics is overlooked or oversimplified, yet it is only by understanding these dynamics that a full picture of what is happening in Solomon Islands can be drawn.

Sogavare is a dangerous paranoid prime minister

The Australian government has donated police vehicles and deadly weapons to the Solomon Islands' government per the request of the prime minister of the less developed country in the region. The ridiculous thing he said in justifying these deadly weapons is that they are crucial to the prosperity of the country, which is absolutely ridiculous. Besides that, he also accepted donation from China of motorbikes and riot vehicles. Are these weapons necessary or are these so-called powers merely feeding into the paranoia of this mentally unstable prime minister? Prime Minister Sogavare had been in government since the 90s and was elected in 1997 until now as MP for East Choisel. And he should remember that in the 1980s and 1990s, prosperity defined the country, and though various governments succeeded, and the economy fluctuated, it was largely considered stable until the late 1990s when the SI government decided to buy weapons to protect itself from the threats posed by the PNG Defense...

Sogavare lied to the world

SOGAVARE LIED AT THE UNGA The Prime Minister of SI spoke at the United Nations General Assembly, attacking two important key issues he believes that are hurting his government and SI. First, he went after what he called an effort on 'Social Media' to spread disinformation about his 'China – SI' security pact, which he signed earlier this year. In it, Sogavare claimed that most of the things said about him and his new friends, the Chinese Communist Party, were done deliberately to mislead his country and the world. As a result of that, he said the misleading information led to riots and looting, as we'd seen at the end of 2021. Secondly, Sogavare attacked – indirectly – Australia and its allies such as the US and Britain. Choosing a foreign partner is the right of a sovereign, independent state. He argued that his government's partnership with the Chinese government is solely for the interest of the country, and decried any perception that SI was becoming an a...

China hits back at Australia over claims Beijing is spreading false narratives in SI

On Saturday China slammed a recent report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which claimed that China is attempting to "spread false narratives and suppress information on a range of topics" in the Solomon Islands. Chinese authorities said such move is an ineffective attempt to stir trouble. There is no doubt that the Chinese Communist Party is all over Solomon Islands influencing its decision making, and its domestic policies. This is a violation of all diplomatic decorum where domestic issues are left to the governing bodies, not foreign entities. In the months after booting China out of the country, China wanted to ensure no one in the country had any connection to Taiwan. No only did the government of Sogavare pushed hard against any provinces that still remained loyal to Taiwan, it was doing so at the best of Beijing. Sogavare had attacked the Malaita Province, and attempted to unseat the pro-Taiwanese premier Suidani. The Suidani government was shaken and ...

Manasseh Sogavare - the Puppet

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