Natapei and Kilman's tug of war

The Chief Justice (CJ)for Vanuatu has squashed a claim by Sato and his appointed Ministers that yesterday 22nd June 2011. The claim was that they are still acting Ministers of the state therefore PM Natapei has no right to terminate them, but earlier the CJ had ruled that the appointment of former PM Sato Kilman was unconstitutional because the election was carried out in an unconsitutuional manner (in which there was no vote of PM by secret ballot as clearly defined in the constitution.

Today the 23rd June 2011 extra ordinary parliament session was boycotted by Natapei and his MP's basically since they do not have sufficient numbers, they had 24 while Sato Kilman had 27. The boycott meant that the parliament is adjourned to meet in 3 days on the 26 June 2011.

Speculations are that Natapei boycotted the session to buy time and lobby for numbers and if by 26 June they still do not have number then they can either let Sato win the election of PM or request the Head of State to dissolve the Parliament and everyone head back to the polls.