Former Vanuatu Opposition Leader, Ralph Regenvanu, has confirmed he and the other former Members of Parliament (MPs) who signed a Motion against the Prime Minister Bob Loughman, will be lodging their case to determine the legality of the dissolution of Parliament on Monday this week.
“Just hours before we were supposed to go back to Parliament where the quorum would have been simple majority and we have the numbers to rule, the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers (COM) dissolved Parliament,” he stressed.
The president of Vanuatu dissolved the country’s parliament just over halfway through the current four-year-term.
Nikenike Vurobaravu signed the instrument for the dissolution of parliament last Thursday on the eve of a proposed motion of no confidence in the prime minister that was to have been tabled on Friday morning.
The now caretaker prime minister Bob Loughman, who requested the dissolution, has welcomed the president’s decision and called on all Vanuatu citizens to respect it.
Loughman is already in campaign mode saying by law they must hold an election in not less than 30 days but also not more than 60 days’ time.
“My responsibility and that of my ministers [is] to make sure that we run and we conduct an election for the people of this country to elect their new representatives to represent them in parliament,” Loughman said.
“I had made an appeal earlier on that when it comes to selecting candidates, I appealed to all the communities to nominate and elect reputable leaders that have the qualities to lead this country,” he said.
SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST/PACNEWS
