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Australia offers to fund Solomon Islands election

15 Comments

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so one country funds another country elections out of the goodness of their heart?

hmmm.....muh democracy or something!?

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

They can hold international sports games, but can’t finance an election or at least a little wall if the sea level rises some inches? Quite some clowns at work at that island circus there.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Helping friends is democratic and neighborly. It is not the first help Australia has given to its neighbors and will not be the last. Unlike other nations that attach strings, Australian aid is exactly that.

The people of the Solomon Islands will vote and they will decide who they wish to lead them. Providing the election is free and fair without "shenanigans" the citizens will move forward as they so choose.

No doubt China has lined the pockets of the current PM and his close supporters which makes things more complicated. There are those in the Solomon's that are anti China, and for that nation to not get to close to China is a benefit to the whole region. At the end democracies are about the peoples choice and so long as neither side rigs voting or coerces voters they will make their choice and live with it until the next elections.

Heres hoping they can make the right choice for them without descending into violence.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Solomons won't take the bait.

Pretty sure they're completely feb up with being colonized by commonwealth

So their crooked leaders will choose to be colonised by Communist China instead.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

PM Sogavare indignantly told Australia no, calling it interference in their government.

So their crooked leaders will choose to be colonised by Communist China instead

Yep.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Big countries like Australia love to "fund" the elections of little countries like the Solomons, just like poor Uncle Sam's been itching for decades to "help" little Cuba.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Big countries like Australia love to "fund" the elections of little countries like the Solomons, just like poor Uncle Sam's been itching for decades to "help" little Cuba.

I think you missed the point Australia was making. PM Sogavare is looking for an excuse to push off the next election and remain in power past the end of his term, maybe indefinitely. He is using the cost of hosting the 2023 Pacific Games as an excuse claiming that poor little Solomon Islands can't afford the cost of both an election and hosting the games. Australia called his bluff and offered to pay for the election. Mr. Sogavare expressed indignation that Australia announced their idea publicly but that was the whole idea, to put them on the spot and in the process reveal their true ambitions.

Or would you prefer Mr. Sogavare become a mini Xi Jinping manipulating the situation to be president for life? Do you think any PM in a mature democracy could get away with a gambit like that? There would be a buzz saw of criticism if, say, the UK or Australian PM tried to cry the nation was too poor to hold an election.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

How much do you want to bet that “assistance” comes with a caveat of having to play host to an offshore dumping ground for Australia’s politically inconvenient refugees?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

How much do you want to bet that “assistance” comes with a caveat of having to play host to an offshore dumping ground for Australia’s politically inconvenient refugees?

Everything! I am all in. Clearly Labor offer this assistance with no caveat. Why do some wish to see evil in a gesture of assistance and friendship?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Why do some wish to see evil in a gesture of assistance and friendship?

Because I have been alive and conscious on this planet long enough to know you don’t send millions and millions of dollars to another country without expecting something in return. And I’ve also been alive long enough to know that Australia likes to use monetary assistance to goad underdeveloped nations into playing host to refugee camps.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Why do some wish to see evil in a gesture of assistance and friendship?

Because I have been alive and conscious on this planet long enough to know you don’t send millions and millions of dollars to another country without expecting something in return.

It was neither a gesture of altruism or a quid pro quo. The current Solomon Islands PM is angling for a way to remain in power past the legal end of his term in office. He was using the excuse of the cost to host the 2023 Pacific Games as a reason to cry poor and claim the Solomon Islands could not afford the cost of holding an election. It was a transparent and lame excuse to remain in power. So the Australians called his bluff and offered to pay for the elections themselves, relieving the hard pressed Solomon Islands budget of that burden. His indignant response tells us all that he isn't interested in holding elections. He is tearing a page from the Xi Jinping playbook so he can be PM for life.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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