Incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare -- one of China's most stedfast allies in the South Pacific -- clung on to his seat by votes, according to the official tally. Sogavare will soon travel to the capital Honiara, where his team will begin bartering with other MPs in a mad dash to form a ruling coalition. The election, billed as Solomon Islands' most important in a generation, was seen in part as a referendum on China's place in the "Hapi Isles".
Sogavare's margin evaporated by around 10 percent in the wake of an often-tumultuous term marked by crackdowns, riots and deepened ties with Beijing. Regional governor Martin Fini, who oversaw the swift expansion of Chinese interests on the island of Malaita, was earlier turfed out by voters. Reports of Sogavare's success were featured across state-backed Chinese news outlets. Some MPs, such as leading opposition figure Peter Kenilorea, have already journeyed to Honiara to begin shoring up their numbers.
Kenilorea has indicated that dialling back China's influence will be a key plank in his negotiating platform. Several seats in the member parliament are yet to be called. In the coming days, politicians with common interests will start to coalesce into "camps" based in Honiara's casinos and hotels -- seeking to form a ruling majority. Only once the dust has settled from this process will a prime minister emerge. Sogavare is one of China's most loyal friends in the South Pacific and has vowed to deepen ties with Beijing further if he returns to power.
He will soon travel to the capital Honiara, where his team will begin bartering with other MPs behind closed doors in the race to form a ruling coalition. The election on Wednesday, billed as Solomon Islands' most important in a generation, was seen in part as a referendum on China's place in the "Hapi Isles".
Sogavare fended off four challengers to retain a parliamentary seat he has held for more than 20 years, according to provisional results reported by the nation's public broadcaster. The year-old has championed deeper links with Beijing since coming to power in , when he severed longstanding diplomatic ties with Taiwan. That decision partly fuelled a wave of anti-government riots that tore through the Chinatown district in Honiara. Violence returned in , when angry mobs tried to storm parliament, torched Chinatown and attempted to raze Sogavare's home.
