The vote passed with 37 votes in favor, nine against and three MPs absent during the vote. The latest development means that instead of voting in the second half of 2023, the 11th parliament will now end on December 31, 2023, with elections to be held in late April 2024. Sogavare defended the push to delay the election, saying the country’s limited resources meant it was unable to host two large-scale events in one year. “The reasons are simple and we have been saying this consistently since day one, we cannot successfully host the national general election and the Pacific Games in the same year while our economy is still recovering from the effects of Covid-19 and the damage caused by the audience. turmoil,” he said. But Opposition Leader Matthew Vale said the delay was part of a “scheme” by the prime minister to stay in power longer than necessary at the expense of people’s right to vote. “There was a clear intention to hide the decision from the public. From February 2021, the prime minister planned not to allocate resources to the electoral commission to prepare elections in the normal way,” he told parliament. “The people’s government and the people’s parliament are being abused in this bill by the few who exercise executive government powers.” Sogavare also accepted Australia’s offer to fund the delayed election, which he had previously strongly criticized, saying they should “prepare” for the “big cost”. Earlier this week, Sogavare hit back at an Australian government offer to help fund the election, calling it “foreign interference”. He said the timing of the offer was “inappropriate” when the bill to postpone the election was in parliament. Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Sogavare welcomed the offer, saying: “We look forward to Australia’s offer to help us fund the much-needed electoral reforms and conduct national elections. “They have offered now, so get ready brother to fund the expenses. The cost is high, Mr. President. The electoral commission needs a lot of money.” Communications and Aviation Minister Peter Agovaka said the government welcomed Australia’s offer to help with the general election. “If Australia wants to help with the election, we have no problem with that as long as it’s not political funding,” he said.
