Tongan General Election, 2008
Parliamentary elections were held in Tonga on 23 and 24 April 2008 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly. The nobles were elected on 23 April, and the nine people's representatives on 24 April. A total of 32,000 people turned out to vote, giving a turnout of 48%.
71 candidates had filed for the people's representatives' seats, among them eight women. All nine incumbents stood for reelection, with six retaining their seats. Most of the pro-democracy MPs were returned, despite several facing charges of sedition over the 2006 Nuku'alofa riots Reportedly, all nine elected MPs were pro-democracy activists.
These elections were the last ones before democratic reforms expected to be implemented in 2010, which would change the seat balance as follows: 17 MPs would be popularly elected, nine MPs would be elected by the nobles and four MPs appointed by the king.
Viliami Uasike Latu requested a recount in Vava'u, the constituency he contested, as he missed out on the second seat there by only 51 votes; the recount was conducted from 5 to 9 May at the Office of the Governor of Vava’u. Latu lose the recount on 14 May after an increase to the other candidate, Samiu Kuita Vaipulu from 1,896 votes to 1,902 votes while Latu received a very narrow decrease of two votes from the original 1,845 votes to 1,843 votes.
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