Sato Kilman
Encyclopedia
Sato Kilman is a Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

 politician. He was Prime Minister of Vanuatu from December 2010 to April 2011 and from May to June 2011, though his premiership was subsequently annulled by a court of law. He was elected Prime Minister again on 26 June 2011, thus beginning his first legally recognised term in the premiership; he is the current Prime Minister. He is also the current Leader of the People's Progress Party
People's Progress Party (Vanuatu)
The People's Progress Party/Parti progressiste populaire is the ruling political party in Vanuatu.At the 6 July 2004 legislative elections, the party won 3 out of 52 seats. The following election saw its seat count increased to 4. Its leader, Sato Kilman served as Deputy Prime Minister and foreign...

. He is an MP from Lakatoro
Lakatoro
Lakatoro is the capital of Malampa Province of the island country of Vanuatu. It is situated on the eastern shore of Malakula and is the largest settlement in that island....

 on Malekula Island.

Kilman and Ham Lini
Ham Lini
Ham Lini Vanuaroroa is a politician from Vanuatu. He is an MP from Pentecost Island in PENAMA Province. He was Prime Minister of Vanuatu from 11 December 2004 until 22 September 2008. Lini is the brother of Walter Lini, one of the founders of the modern Republic of Vanuatu...

 led the opposition to the Serge Vohor
Serge Vohor
Rialuth Serge Vohor is a politician from Vanuatu. He hails from the largest island of Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, from Port Olry.He is a member of the Union of Moderate Parties, a conservative, Francophone political party. When his party came to power in 1991, Vohor became foreign minister of Vanuatu...

 government when it took office in July 2004. Soon, however, Lini joined a coalition government with Vohor. Kilman then became known as the leader of the opposition, and became a particularly strong critic of Vohor's attempts to establish relations with Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. In December 2004, Kilman filed the no confidence motion which deposed Vohor and made Lini prime minister. In the new cabinet established on 13 December 2004, Kilman was rewarded by becoming Lini's deputy, as well as taking the position of foreign minister.

Kilman was dismissed from the government in a cabinet reshuffle in late July 2007. According to the government, this was due to alleged fraud, involving money stolen from the government, in which Kilman's political secretary was said to be involved.

Following the 2008 general election
Vanuatuan general election, 2008
Parliamentary elections were held in Vanuatu on September 2, 2008. In July, the Melanesian Progressive Party requested that they be postponed, contesting the constitutionality of the Peoples Representation Act No. 33 of 2007, which allegedly enabled voters in certain constituencies to vote in two...

, the People's Progress Party was in Opposition, as part of the Alliance bloc. In March 2009, Kilman was named leader of the Opposition, because the Alliance bloc had the largest number of seats of any Opposition party or alliance. In November 2009, however, during a major Cabinet reshuffle, Kilman was brought into Natapei's government as deputy Prime Minister.

On 2 December 2010 Kilman was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Natapei
Edward Natapei
Edward Nipake Natapei Tuta Fanua`araki is a politician from Vanuatu. He was elected Prime Minister of Vanuatu on two separate terms, and was previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in 1991, the acting President of Vanuatu from 2 March 1999 to 24 March 1999 , and Deputy Prime Minister...

 was ousted in a vote of no confidence. Kilman was himself narrowly ousted in a vote of no confidence on 24 April 2011 (Easter Sunday), by twenty-six votes to twenty-five; Serge Vohor
Serge Vohor
Rialuth Serge Vohor is a politician from Vanuatu. He hails from the largest island of Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo, from Port Olry.He is a member of the Union of Moderate Parties, a conservative, Francophone political party. When his party came to power in 1991, Vohor became foreign minister of Vanuatu...

 succeeded him.

Vohor's election was declared invalid on 13 May 2011, as he only had a relative majority, and not an absolute one.

On 16 June, however, Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 Vincent Lunabek
Vincent Lunabek
Vincent Lunabek is a Vanuatan legal and political figure. As of 2011 he is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vanuatu.-References:...

 ruled in a separate case put forward by Edward Natapei, contesting the constitutionality of Kilman's initial election in December 2010. Lunabek ruled that Kilman's election to office had indeed been unconstitutional, as "[t]he speaker of Parliament Maxime Carlot Korman
Maxime Carlot Korman
Maxime Carlot Korman is a ni-Vanuatu politician, formerly serving as Speaker of the Parliament and formerly as acting President. He served as Prime minister of Vanuatu for nearly five years, first from 16 December 1991 to 21 December 1995 and again from 23 February 1996 to 30 September 1996...

 [had] appointed Mr Kilman prime minister without following article 41 of the constitution
Constitution of Vanuatu
The Constitution of Vanuatu is the supreme law of the Republic of Vanuatu. It was enacted in 1979, and came into force upon the country's independence on 30 July 1980....

 which required he be elected by secret ballot". Kilman's premiership was annulled, and Natapei was restored as interim Prime Minister, instructed to convene Parliament for the election of a new Prime Minister. Ironically, as Natapei's ministers were restored as interim ministers, Kilman reverted to being Natapei's interim deputy prime minister - a position he was expected to hold only for a few days.

On 26 June, Kilman stood for the premiership, and was elected by Parliament, with 29 votes to Serge Vohor's 23.

External links

  • Statement by Sato Kilman at the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly
    United Nations General Assembly
    For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

    , 26 September 2006

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