By Kirsty Needham
(Reuters) -The Pacific island nation of Tonga is awaiting the selection of a new prime minister, after a national election on Thursday saw 10 of 17 people’s representatives returned to parliament, amid low voter turnout in the tiny constitutional monarchy.
Tonga, with a population of 108,000, is one of a number of small Pacific nations at the centre of a battle for influence between China and Western partners including Australia and the United States. It is highly indebted to China’s EXIM bank, servicing 20-year-old construction loans.
Tonga’s electoral commission said on Friday that 10 of 17 people’s representatives were returned in Thursday’s election, which had a voter turnout of 49%. Eight out of nine incumbent nobles were also returned in a vote among peers.
A prime minister will be selected on the floor of parliament at a later date, an electoral official said.
Tonga became a democracy in 2010, when the previous monarch, King George Tupou V surrendered executive powers. China said the current King, Tupou VI, will arrive in the country on Friday for a week-long official visit.
Tonga’s parliament is a single chamber of nine nobles and 17 people’s representatives.
It passed legislation in August renaming the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as His Majesty’s Diplomatic Service, changes designed to “regulate the conduct of diplomatic and consular relations” and return greater influence to the King.
In January, Tonga’s Crown Prince Tupouto’a ‘Ulukalala was named minister for defence and foreign affairs, taking on the key government roles.
A new prime minister, ‘Aisake Eke, was installed in January, after his predecessor Siaosi Sovaleni resigned amid a tense relationship with the nation’s monarch.
Eke and Sovaleni were returned in Thursday’s election. Tongan media outlets reported a noble will also likely vie for the prime ministership.
Tonga’s 2025 budget is focused on loan repayments to China’s EXIM bank, which makes up 48% of total external debt, its budget documents show.
Debt repayments to China spiked last year, on a loan used to rebuild its central business district after riots in 2006, which now accounts for two-thirds of debt payments.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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