Friend Melanesian Party

Friend Melanesian Party
Founded1975
IdeologyDecentralisation
Political positionCentre
Parliament
0 / 52
Politics of Vanuatu

The Friend Melanesian Party (FMP) is a political party in Vanuatu. The party is usually seen as close to the Union of Moderate Parties.

History

The FMP was formed in 1975 by French-speaking Protestant Pisovuke Albert Ravutia as a reaction to the success of the New Hebrides National Party.[1][2][3] In 1981 it joined the francophone Union of Moderate Parties alliance, but due to the Catholic dominance of the alliance in contrast to the Protestant majority in the FMP, it opted to remain an individual party and fielded candidates against the UMP.[2]

In the 1983 general elections the party received 2.3% of the vote, winning a single seat in Parliament, aligning itself with the UMP.[3] It retained its seat in the 1987, 1991 and 1995 elections, but did not contest the 1998 elections. The party returned to Parliament after winning one seat in the 2002 elections, but lost it in the 2004 elections. It also remained seatless after the 2008 elections.

In the 2012 elections the party nominated three candidates.[4] It received 0.9% of the vote, failing to win a seat. In the 2016 elections the party fielded two candidates,[5] winning one seat; Edwin Amblus in Santo.[6] However the party lost its parliamentary representation following the 2020 election and failed to get it back in the 2022 one.

Election results

Parliament

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Status
1975 Pisovuke Albert Ravutia 457 0.89 (#6)
0 / 29
 New Extra-parliamentary
1977 Boycotted
0 / 38
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
1979 Did not contest
0 / 39
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
1983 1,014 2.30 (#6)
1 / 39
 Increase 1 Opposition
1987 1,119 1.99 (#4)
1 / 46
 Steady 0 Opposition
1991 1,157 1.86 (#7)
1 / 46
 Steady 0 Opposition
1995 2,019 2.66 (#4)
1 / 50
 Steady 0 Opposition
1998 Did not contest
0 / 52
 Decrease 1 Extra-parliamentary
2002 1,566 1.98 (#9)
1 / 52
 Increase 1 Opposition
2004 1,101 1.19 (#13)
0 / 52
 Decrease 1 Extra-parliamentary
2008 270 0.26 (#24)
0 / 52
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
2012 1,069 0.89 (#19)
0 / 52
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
2016 1,465 1.30 (#17)
1 / 52
 Increase 1 Opposition
2020 996 0.69 (#24)
0 / 52
 Decrease 1 Extra-parliamentary
2022 229 0.17 (#36)
0 / 52
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary

References

  1. ^ Roland Rich, Luke Hambly & Michael G. Morgan (2008) Political Parties in the Pacific Islands, ANU E Press, p124
  2. ^ a b The political parties and groupings of Vanuatu Archived 2015-08-28 at the Wayback Machine ALP International Projects
  3. ^ a b Howard Van Trease (1995) Melanesian Politics: Stael Blong Vanuatu, p225
  4. ^ Legislative elections held on 30 October 2012 Psephos
  5. ^ Final candidate list for the 2016 General Election Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Vanuatu Daily, 11 January 2016
  6. ^ Unofficial results Vanuatu Daily Post, 25 January 2016