Solomon Islands Government and Politics

State and politics

Solomon Islands Country Flag

Reference: Solomon Islands Flag Meaning

According to AllCityCodes.com, the Solomon Islands has been an independent state and member of the Commonwealth since 1978. The British regent is represented by a Governor General, who must be a citizen of the Solomon Islands. Parliament has a House with 47 members elected over four years. Parliamentarism is applied. Some of the power has been delegated to the provincial councils, in which the traditional leaders have a special influence.

There are a number of political parties in the Solomon Islands, but they have more of a character of valiant alliances. Also see AbbreviationFinder for abbreviation of SB and its meanings of Solomon Islands. At the 1993 election, Solomon Mamaloni’s government block Group for National Unity and Reconciliation was defeated by National Coalition Partners, and new Prime Minister Francis Billy Hilly. This one has to address the conflict with Papua New Guinea, which has accused the Solomon Islands of supporting the separatist movement Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) on the island of Bougainville.

Judiciary

The legal order is based on English law in combination with local customary law. The judicial system consists mainly of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The death penalty does not exist in the penal code since the country became independent in 1978.

State and politics

Solomon Islands is a parliamentary-democratic constitutional monarchy with the British Queen as head of state. She is represented by a Governor General. The government is headed by a prime minister elected by members of the National Parliament. He proposes the government’s 30 members appointed by the Governor-General.

The Prime Minister and the Government are responsible to the National Parliament, which has one chamber of 50 members elected in general elections. They are elected for five years and can be re-elected once.

The Solomon Islands are divided into nine provinces and one city (metropolitan area).

The country is devoid of military forces. A police force of nearly 500 men is monitoring the economic zone.

Solomon Islands is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the Pacific Islands Forum.

History and Politics

The early days

Probably the Solomon Islands have been around since 4000 BC. Settled, whereby the immigrants came from southern East Asia. Melanesians later immigrated from the area of ​​Borneo and Papua New Guinea and mingled with the people who already lived there. There were many small tribes in the Solomon Islands that were repeatedly involved in armed conflicts.

The European

A Spaniard with the resounding name of Alvaro de Mendana de Neyra was the first European to come to the islands. But the islands were forgotten again, the explorer died shortly after landing on the islands. A British navigator named Philipp Carteret also passed the islands on his voyages of discovery and began to write them down on maps. Louis Antoine de Bougainville also reached the islands. But only Jean François Marie de Surville, who also came from France, stayed on the islands for a long time. More explorers followed.

German New Guinea

It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the first traders settled and with them the missionaries, whose endeavor was to convince the locals of the Christian faith. The northern islands were part of the colonial empire of the Germans, namely German New Guinea. The other part came to Britain. After the First World War, the former German part was under Australian administration as a mandate of the League of Nations. This part now belongs to the state of Papua New Guinea.

Second World War

Like many other Pacific islands, the Solomon Islands were the focus of clashes between the Japanese and Americans during World War II. Several battles took place here, such as the Battle of Guadalcanal, the largest island in the Solomon Islands. Shipwrecks and the remains of shot down planes or old war tanks still bear witness to these fierce fighting. The Americans were able to win over the Japanese in the end.

The way to independence

After the end of the Second World War, the islands were a so-called British reserve. Over time, they were given more and more rights to self-determination. In 1970 there was a constitution and in 1976, at least once, internal independence. When Papua New Guinea declared itself independent, the Solomon Islands followed suit, but they wanted their own independent state. This became a parliamentary monarchy and the Solomon Islands are a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Repeatedly dispute

The first Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands was Sir Peter Kenilorea. Since the economy of the newly founded state was very weak – the country’s raw material deposits are low – the Solomon Islands continued to rely on foreign aid. In the 1980s in particular, attempts were made to carry out reforms.

Unfortunately, there were more and more disputes between the individual islands and their inhabitants. The dispute between the inhabitants of the islands of Guadalcanal and Malaita became particularly violent. A real war developed out of the dispute, which also involved other islands. Only when Australia intervened could the war end, although the parties kept getting involved in fights and the country simply did not come to rest.

Bad conditions for investors

These are not good conditions for the economy, because no one wants money to a country investing, in which one does not know how to proceed politically accurate. So the governments changed again and again. The population continued to become impoverished. In addition, there were natural disasters such as tidal waves and earthquakes, which repeatedly shook the country. At the beginning of 2014 there was once again heavy flooding due to rain and tidal waves. People became homeless.

From 2014 to 2017 Manasseh Sogavare was Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, who had previously held this office twice. In 2017 Rick Houenipwela took over the office. Manasseh Sogavare has held it again since 2019. If you count correctly, this is his fourth presidency.

Solomon Islands Head of Government

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