Serge Vohor

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jean Marie Leye Lenelgau
Preceded byMaxime Carlot Korman
Succeeded byMaxime Carlot Korman
Personal details
Born (1955-04-23) 23 April 1955 (age 69)
Port Olry, Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides
Political partyUnion of Moderate Parties (1988–2022)
Pikinini blong Graon (2022–present)

Rialuth Serge Vohor (born 23 April 1955) is a Vanuatuan politician. He hails from the largest island of Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, from Port Olry.

He was a member of the

absolute majority.[1]

In October 2015, Vohor was one of 15 MPs to be convicted of bribery by the Vanuatu Supreme Court and was jailed for 3 years.[2] Vohor was Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Kilman government at the time of his conviction.[3][4]

Second term as prime minister and aftermath

In October 1996, during his second term as prime minister, he was abducted along with President

Vanuatuan passports to foreigners, and the Office of the Vanuatu Ombudsman recommended that he resign from his post.[6]

After the 1998 parliamentary elections the Union of Moderate Parties could not form a coalition government, but Vohor still served as a prominent member of coalition governments led by other parties much of the time, serving as foreign minister again from 1999 until 2001. His party did not regain power in the 2002 parliamentary elections, but Vohor served as foreign minister for a third time from 2002 until 2003.

Third term as prime minister

In the parliamentary elections of 2004, the Union of Moderate Parties lost several seats. However, Vohor managed to form a coalition including independents and members of other parties to be elected Prime Minister. Vohor was elected Prime Minister by the Parliament with 28 votes, with his opponent,

Ham Lini
receiving 24. The following month, Vohor formed a national unity government with Lini as deputy prime minister.

While out of the country, Vohor was charged with contempt for comments he had made in parliament about Chief Justice Vincent Lunabek, but in September 2004 the Supreme Court threw out the charges on the grounds that Vohor had not been given the proper chance to defend himself in court, and that, furthermore, his comments were protected by parliamentary privilege.[7]

Vohor gained international attention when, on 3 November 2004, while on a secret visit to

One-China policy. For weeks, both the ROC and PRC had diplomatic missions in Vanuatu with disagreement in the government over which government to recognize. On 1 December, Vohor punched (or pushed) the shoulder of the new ambassador from Beijing, Bao Shusheng, after being approached to explain why the flag of the Republic of China was still flying over a hotel in Port Vila. After 16 members of parliament who had supported Vohor joined the opposition, depriving him of a majority and leaving him with 15 out of 52 seats, the opposition tried to hold a no-confidence vote against Vohor.[8][9] Vohor attempted to prevent the vote in court, claiming that a new constitutional amendment barred no-confidence votes against a prime minister during his first year in office, but the Supreme Court ruled against him on 7 December, saying that the vote could go ahead because the new amendment had not yet been approved by referendum. Vohor then took the matter to the Court of Appeal,[9] but it also ruled against him; he was defeated in the no-confidence vote and replaced by Ham Lini.[10]

Later career

Since then Vohor has been the effective leader of the opposition. In March 2006 Vohor led an attempt to depose Lini through a no confidence vote, focusing on accusing Lini of weakness. However, the vote was defeated as not enough Parliament members who had supported the government defected.

On 27 July 2007, Vohor, who was serving as Minister of Public Utilities, allegedly assaulted an official from the Finance Ministry due to his pay being delayed. Despite this allegation, there was no evidence to substantiate the assault ever taking place. In a cabinet reshuffle a few days later, he was one of several ministers dismissed from the government.[11] Vohor said that one reason the UMP was being excluded from the government was because of its strength, and said that the party would try to return to the government.[12]

After the 2 September 2008 general elections Vohor and his Union of Moderate Parties initially aligned itself with the opposition block which gave its support to Vanuatu Republican Party's Maxime Carlot Korman for the post of Prime Minister.

When a motion of No Confidence was tabled against new Prime Minister Edward Natapei, Serge Vohor and his MPs initially supported the no confidence motion; however, he eventually withdrew his signature to be in Natapei's government as its new Minister of Infrastructure and Public Utilities.

Fourth term as prime minister

See also:
Vohor Cabinet (2011–)

On 24 April 2011 (

Easter Sunday), Prime Minister Sato Kilman was narrowly ousted by a parliamentary vote of no confidence, by twenty-six votes to twenty-five. Usually, the opposition, led by Edward Natapei, had not fielded a candidate to succeed him. Parliament thus elected Serge Vohor to the post.[13]

His election was declared invalid on 13 May 2011, as he had been elected only bt a relative majority in Parliament, not an absolute one.[1]

Subsequent career

On 23 March 2013, new Prime Minister Moana Carcasses Kalosil appointed him Minister for Health.[14] He lost office when the Carcasses government was brought down by a motion of no confidence on 15 May 2014.[15]

In June 2015, following a further change of government, Vohor became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Sato Kilman.[16]

In October 2015, Serge Vohor, together with several other MPs, was convicted of bribery by the Vanuatu Supreme Court. Vohor was found to have accepted 1,000,000 vatu from Moana Carcasses MP, in return for support in a motion of no-confidence against the government of Joe Natuman.[2] At one point during the trial, Vohor attacked a photographer outside the court house.[17] Vohor was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for his involvement in the bribery scandal.[4] He was also convicted for conspiring to pervert the course of justice. He served 18 months in jail. He was pardoned by the President of Vanuatu, Tallis Obed Moses, in September 2021, which restores his eligibility to run for public office again.[18]

In August 2022, he launched a leadership bid once again for the UMP, this time losing to Ishmael Kalsakau by a vote of 45 delegates to 22.[19] After his defeat, Vohor left the party after more than 30 years and formed a new party called the Pikinini blong Graon (Children of the Land) Movement in September.[20]

References

  1. ^
    Radio New Zealand International
    . 13 May 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Public Prosecutor v Kalosil – Judgment as to verdict [2015] VUSC 135; Criminal Case 73 of 2015 (9 October 2015)". paclii.org. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Bribery case stops Vanuatu minister from attending Forum". Radio New Zealand. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Vanuatu court sentences MPs, including former PMs Carcasses and Vohor, to jail for corruption - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". ABC News. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  5. ISBN 0-8248-2048-7
    , p. 26
  6. ^ Hill, Edward R. (3 December 1997), "Public Report on Resort Las Vegas and granting of illegal passports", Digested Reports of the Vanuatu Office of the Ombudsman, vol. 97, no. 15, retrieved 25 November 2010
  7. Radio New Zealand International
    . 27 September 2004. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  8. ^ "Vanuatu PM assaults Chinese ambassador", chinadaily.cn, 6 December 2004.
  9. ^ a b "Vanuatu court rules in favor of Parliament; Vohor appeals", Taiwan News (news.vu), 8 December 2004. Archived 27 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Radio New Zealand International
    . 10 December 2004. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  11. ^ "Vanuatu reshuffles cabinet again", ABC Radio Australia, 30 July 2007.
  12. Radio New Zealand International
    . 2 August 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Vohor takes Vanuatu's top job but instability expected to continue", ABC Radio Australia, 25 April 2011
  14. ^ "Nation's interest first: Carcasses" Archived 29 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Vanuatu Daily Post, 26 mars 2013
  15. ^ "Natuman names cabinet line-up" Archived 17 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Vanuatu Digest, 16 May 2014
  16. ^ "Vanuatu announces new cabinet after new prime minister Sato Kilman is elected". ABC News. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  17. ^ "Photographer attacked outside Vanuatu court". Radio New Zealand. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Vanuatu president pardons three former PMs". Radio New Zealand. 3 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Vohor launches new political party".
  20. ^ "Vohor launches new political party".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serge Vohor.
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Vanuatu
1995–1996 		Succeeded by
Prime Minister of Vanuatu
1996–1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Vanuatu
2004 		Succeeded by
Ham Lini
Prime Minister of Vanuatu
Acting
2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Vanuatu
2011 		Succeeded by
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