Ham Lini - Prime Minister of Vanuatu

Prime Minister of Vanuatu

The VNUP became the largest party in parliament in the July 2004 parliamentary elections, with 10 of 52 seats. Ham Lini became a candidate for Prime Minister, but was defeated by Serge Vohor, though Lini also had the support of the largest faction of the Vanua'aku Pati, led by outgoing Prime Minister Edward Natapei. He continued to dispute the results and lead the opposition to the Vohor government until 20 August 2004, when Vohor and Lini formed a National Unity Government, in which Vohor remained Prime Minister and Lini became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs.

In December 2004, Vohor was ousted after only a few months in office in a no confidence vote for unilaterally establishing relations with Taiwan (Republic of China), and Lini was elected Prime Minister by the Parliament. One of Lini's first actions after taking office was the re-establishment of full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

On 21 March 2006, Lini survived a no confidence vote in Parliament by a vote of 30 to 20. The opposition, led by former Prime Minister Serge Vohor, had accused the Lini government of weaknesses from a controversial proposal to monopolize kava exports. The Opposition had believed that some parliament members who had supported the government would defect, but few did.

Lini and Vanuatu's council of ministers declared a state of emergency for the capital city of Port Vila in March 2007 following tribal clashes between people from the islands of Tanna and Ambrym. The clashes, which took place in Blacksands squatter settlement area on the outskirts of Port Vila, killed two people. The fighting broke out when people from Tanna alleged that an Ambrym man used black magic to harm a Tannese person.