Scenes from election day in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands residents formed long lines to vote at polling stations in Honiara, the nation’s capital, even before the electoral commission declared them open at 7 a.m. on Wednesday. 

In a livestreamed announcement, Commission Chairwoman Taeasi Sanga reminded her 700,000 fellow citizens of this sometimes volatile Pacific island nation to remain calm. The general election had been scheduled for 2023 but was delayed because the Solomon Islands could not afford to hold it during the same year it was hosting the 24-nation Pacific Games, officials said.

The counting of ballots likely won’t be finished until late this month, the commission said. MPs will then vote on a prime minister after the results are final.

As they headed to the polls, most Solomon Islanders were not concerned about the ongoing competition between Beijing and Washington for influence in the region. Instead, their focus was on dilapidated roads, poor health care including shortages of over-the-counter painkillers, rising prices and job shortages.

Voter Eddie Toifai listed the economy, law and order and leadership as important issues as he waited in the rain to cast his ballot in Honiara.

“I’m really looking forward to some change, if the leadership of this country can change for the better,” Toifai, a lawyer, told BenarNews.

Whether Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will retain office is being watched by Chinese, Australian and U.S. government officials, among others. The vote is the first since Sogavare switched his country’s diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2019.

Regional powers New Zealand and Australia have contributed about U.S. $21 million toward the running of the election and deployed warships and aircraft to deliver ballots to remote locations in the Solomons, a nation comprising hundreds of islands in the southwestern Pacific.