King Makes Unexpected Move to Dissolve Parliament

tongan-king

King Tupou VI of Tonga has dissolved the country’s Parliament and called new elections before November 16, 2017, and in the process dismissed Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva.

The declaration was made around 4:30pm yesterday afternoon after a meeting between the King and the Nobles, the Privy Council and Parliament.

There is speculation on the reasons behind the dissolution but no official reason has been given. The King, by law, does not have to offer a reason.

Melino Maka, the chairman of the New Zealand Tongan Advisory Council, told the New Zealand Herald the reason for dissolving Parliament was unclear.

But he believes it could be combination of reasons: complaints about the Prime Minister’s inability to lead, inability to manage his ministers, and inability to take advice. He could also have health issues.

“It appears that he is not well but at the end of the day he is the democratically elected leader.”

And while a lot of the development in Tonga had come to a halt since the cancellation of the Pacific Games, that was not a strong enough reason, Maka told the Herald.

It’s believed however that the Speaker of the House had written to the King saying Pohiva was no longer fit to continue as Prime Minister of the Kingdom.

In the meantime Kaniva News of Tonga says Akilisi Pōhiva has announced his plan to run for Parliament again in the November election.

According to Kaniva News, the revelation of Pohiva’s plan could give his large number of supporters in the kingdom and abroad a sense of relief, after many of them were devastated by his dismissal.

The Prime Minister’s son and personal assistant, Po’oi Pohiva did not give details about his father’s plan but most of ‘Akilisi’s supporters had called on the long-time democratic campaigner to stand again for Parliament since the declaration of his dismissal yesterday.

His supporters did not believe there were solid reasons for the king to dismiss the people’s first elected Prime Minister.

The Privy Council has yet to give any reasons why they made the surprising royal command.

ʻAkilisi’s supporters had questioned the Privy Council and the Speaker of the House on their advice to dissolve Parliament given they were only elected to their positions by the king and the only 33 members of the nobility.

‘Akilisi always maintained that members of the Privy Council who tasked with giving advice to the king were mostly people who dislike him.

A supporter of ‘Akilisi wrote on Kaniva website,“The King is behaving like Kim Jong Un (dictator) of North Korea should he decide to dismiss the people’s PM. Tonga is going to revert back to chaos and democracy is no more. I don’t support the King in this move. The King should respect the will of the people, not his advisers and inner-circle. Tonga doesn’t need another riot.”

Supporters of the king stood by His decision and wrote on Facebook things like:

“Long live your Majesty”.

“The King loves Tonga more than anybody else”

“The King made the decision to save the country”.

In another twist to this historical event, questions are being asked of the New Zealand government because of the presence of 20 New Zealand Special Armed Services (SAS)  troops in the kingdom.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Gerry Brownlee is quoted saying the troops were there for an exercise.

He said the troops are currently confined to barracks until further notice.

The New Zealand armed forces had a strong relationship with the Tongan armed forces and they regularly exercised together in Tonga and New Zealand.

“They are under clear instructions that we do not want them out of the streets under any circumstances until we can understand more fully what is actually happening up there,” said Brownlee.

In a statement the Defence Force said the SAS soldiers were in Tonga for an annual training exercise from August 25 to September 8, which had been planned since November.

“The soldiers remain in the barracks at Nuku’alofa. The NZDF is closely monitoring the situation and has put the exercise on hold for the next 24 hours.”

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