Government ministers in Pacific nation of Vanuatu call for parliament’s dissolution, media says

TOKYO (AP) — Government ministers in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu are asking the president to dissolve parliament, adding to political disarray after lawmakers introduced a no-confidence against the prime minister, local media said Saturday.

National elections would be held if President Nikenike Vurobaravu, the largely ceremonial head of state, dissolved the parliament and the government headed by Prime Minister Charlot Salwai.

Vanuatu, which gained independence in 1980, has had three prime ministers since August and Salwai would be removed if legislators adopted the no-confidence motion filed earlier in the week. The stability of the government is increasingly important as China and the United States jockey for influence in the region.

Salwai met with Vurobaravu on Friday after the Council of Ministers, which is appointed by the prime minister, recommended parliament’s dissolution, the Vanuatu Daily Post reported Saturday. Officials said the president was considering the request and would make a decision next week, the paper said

The ministers said a new government would give the country a better chance to recover from recent cyclones and economic struggles, the newpaper said.

A request for comment from the Vanuatu parliament office wasn’t immediately answered.

The U.S. said earlier this year that it will open an embassy in Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila. It will be the fifth diplomatic mission that the U.S. has either opened or announced in the region over the past three years as it seeks to confront what it sees as a challenge from China.

A low-lying island nation of some 300,000 people, Vanuatu last year declared a climate emergency as it moved dozens of villages to higher ground.