General elections were held in Vanuatu on 30 November 1987. Ni-Vanuatu voters were invited to elect the 46 members of an expanded national Parliament, which had previously held 39 seats.
The ruling Vanua'aku Pati maintained its absolute majority, with 26 seats, while the Union of Moderate Parties obtained 19. The Vanua'aku Pati received slightly less than 50% of the popular vote, while the UMP received 40%. Walter Lini of the Vanua'aku Pati remained Prime Minister.[1] Voter turnout was 71.6%.[2]
Important issues in the election included domestic economic reforms (such as liberalising the economy) and the accommodation of the Francophone population.[3]
In 1988 five MPs led by Barak Sopé left the Vanua'aku Pati and created the Melanesian Progressive Party. The five were subsequently expelled from Parliament on 24 July 1988 by the SpeakerOnneyn Tahi at the request of the Lini government, invoking a 1983 law that automatically vacates the seats of MPs who change political party during the parliamentary term. Sopé and Maxime Carlot, the leader of the Union of Moderate Parties then described Lini as a "dictator" and 18 of the 20 UMP deputies started boycotting Parliament. On 27 July, after being absent from Parliament for three consecutive days, the 18 deputies were also expelled by Tahi, who considered that they had resigned their seats. In September the Supreme Court confirmed the legality of the dismissal of the 23 MPs, opening the way to the holding of by-elections.[5] The only two UMP MPs who were not expelled were Vincent Boulekone and Gaetano Bulewak, who refused to go along with the UMP's boycott strategy. They were subsequently excluded from the UMP and founded the Tan Union.[6][7]
The by-elections of 1988 and 1989 were boycotted by the UMP and the Melanesian Progressive Party, with most seats won by the Vanua'aku Pati.
^MILES, William F.S., Bridging Mental Boundaries in a Postcolonial Microcosm: Identity and Development in Vanuatu, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998, ISBN0-8248-2048-7, p.24
^ abDieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p842 ISBN0-19-924959-8
^Vincent Boulekone, «La politique du Tan-Union» dans Howard Van Trease et Michelle Craw (dir.), La politique mélanesienne: Stael Blong Vanuatu, University of the South Pacific, 1995, pp.207 et seq.
^Roland Rich, Luke Hambly et Michael G. Morgan, Political Parties in the Pacific Islands, Australian National University Press, 2008, p.123
