Vanuatu's Government Voted Out of Office: Reports

Vanuatu's Prime Minister Barak Sope has been voted out of office and the country has a new government, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported Saturday.

Edward Natapei has been voted in as the country's new prime minister, the ABC said.

After a tortuous series of legal cases in the country, a judge Friday night ordered the Vanuatu Parliament to resolve the country 's constitutional impasse, the ABC said.

In the end, Vanuatu's acting chief justice had to threaten the speaker with contempt of court to force him to put the no confidence motion to a vote.

The vote was won by the opposition 27-18 and Sope and what was left of his government stormed out of the chamber, the ABC said.

The speaker then called for the nomination of a new prime minister and the opposition leader Natapei was voted in as prime minister, 27-nil.

The new government has promised to investigate Sope and his dealings with a controversial foreign businessman, the ABC said.






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