A TONGA ELECTION PREVIEW

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SUVA 000109

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM TN
SUBJECT: A TONGA ELECTION PREVIEW


1. (SBU) Summary: Seventy-one candidates are running for the nine
seats in Tonga's parliament reserved for People's
Representatives(PRs) in the April 23-24 elections. While Tonga law
has no provision for candidates to register their political
affiliation, at least 30 are associated with the pro-democracy
movement. All current PRs in parliament, including pro-democracy
leaders 'Akilisi Pohiva and Clive Edwards, are running for
re-election. There are eight women candidates. The Tonga
Broadcasting Commission has been running election oriented
programming in which candidates have been able to voice their views,
so long as they do not criticize the current government. End
Summary.

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Last election under current system
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2. (U) With political reforms anticipated in 2010, the upcoming
April 23-24 elections should be the last under Tonga's current
electoral system. The 33 nobles will elect their nine
representatives on April 23, and the rest of country will vote for
the nine People's Representatives on April 24.

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Political parties and candidates
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3. (U) The most populous of Tonga's five electoral districts is the
island of Tongatapu, which has almost two thirds of the total
population, but is allocated only three of the nine PR seats in
parliament. Twenty-eight candidates are competing for these three
seats, among them outspoken pro-democracy advocates and current PRs
Akilisi Pohiva, running for his 8th term, and Clive Edwards, running
for his 2nd term. Four Tongatapu candidates, including all three
current PRs, have pending court cases related to the riots of
November 2006. One of these candidates, Sangster Saulala, who is
charged with sedition, is the former manager of a television station
that aired anti-government programs during the public service strike
in 2005 and again in the days leading up to the November 2006 riots.
Other noteworthy candidates for Tongatapu include two prominent
women pro-democracy advocates, Mele 'Amanaki, General Secretary of
the Public Servant's Association, and 'Akanete Lauti, Director of
the Human Rights and Pro-Democracy Movement and 2007 IVP
participant. Conservative candidates include Mateaki Heimuli,
editor of Tonga's government-owned newspaper. The frontrunners for
Tongatapu at this stage appear to be the three current
representatives and Mele 'Amanaki.


4. (U) Tonga's four smaller electoral districts are the island
groups of Vava'u and Ha'apai, each with two seats in parliament, and
`Eua and Niua, each with one seat in parliament. Twenty-two
candidates are running for Vava'u's two seats, and nine have
registered for Ha'apai's two seats. One of the two Ha'apai
representatives, 'Uliti Uata, has a court case pending related to
the November 2006 riots. Uata has been a PR for Ha'apai for most of
the past three decades and is a pro-democracy advocate. Also
contesting a Ha'apai seat is Teisina Fuko,a former PR and leader of
the People's Democratic Party. Five of Ha'apai's candidates are
considered conservative and the other four are pro-reform. The 22
Vava'u candidates are almost evenly split between conservatives and
pro-reform advocates. Eight candidates are running for the seat
in 'Eua. Tonga's only current female PR, Ms. Lepolo Taunisila, is
campaigning in Niua, where she faces three opponents. Of the three,
one female candidate is a prominent businesswoman, 'Ofa Simiki, who,
like Ms Taunisila, has a court case pending in the Supreme Court
related to the November 2006 riots. Another Niua candidate is
former Cabinet minister Peauafi Haukinima, who was one of the first
two PRs appointed by the King as Minister for Agriculture following
the 2005 general elections. He resigned from Cabinet in June 2007
after a drunken incident at a royal wedding in Nuku'alofa.

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Election issues
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5. (U) Tonga's law does not provide for candidates to register
themselves as affiliated with particular political parties.
However, many candidates are clearly affiliated with certain
parties, such as the Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy
Movement and the People's Democratic Party. Other candidates are
independent. Two candidates told emboff that the majority of
candidates have stated their support for the proposed political
reforms, an attempt to tap into the public mood for change. The most
talked about issues of the campaign are the political reforms, good
governance and corruption in government, and the economy.

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TBC allows broadcast of political programs -
with one major caveat
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6. (SBU) The Tonga Broadcasting Commission (Radio/TV Tonga) has
allowed candidates to broadcast election campaign programs on radio
and television, subject to one condition. Candidates have been
verbally advised that all election campaign programs must not
criticize the government. Presumably, if candidates fail to abide by
this rule because if they don't their programs will not be
broadcast. Radio Tonga's transmission covers the whole country, and
is by far the best way to reach people in the rural areas and
remote islands. Television coverage is limited to the two main
island groups of Tongatapu and Vava'u. The Ministry of Information
has stated that the conditions of broadcasting set down by Radio/TV
Tonga shall be considered as having been sanctioned by the Ministry.
In November last year, the Minister for Information told the media
that his Ministry would draft guidelines for the government-owned
media organizations. To date no such guidelines have been issued.

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Overseas resident candidates
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7. (SBU) Tongan citizens resident overseas are eligible to stand for
election, and a few candidates are long-term residents of the U.S.,
Australia, and New Zealand, including 'Alani Taione, an
Auckland-based pro-democracy activist who received a death threat
related to his public demonstrations against the King in 2006 in
Auckland. So far, the election campaign has been free from
interference from authorities apart from the glaring restriction on
what can be said on government-owned radio and television.

DINGER