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9 of 30 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Tonga | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Constitution |
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Administrative divisions |
General elections were held in Tonga on 23 and 24 April 2008 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly.[1] The nobles were elected on 23 April, and the nine people's representatives on 24 April.[2] A total of 32,000 people turned out to vote, giving a turnout of 48%.[3]
71 candidates had filed for the people's representatives' seats, among them eight women. All nine incumbents stood for reelection, with six retaining their seats.[4] Most of the pro-democracy MPs were returned, despite several facing charges of sedition over the 2006 Nuku'alofa riots.[5] Reportedly, all nine elected MPs were pro-democracy activists.[6]
These elections were the last ones before democratic reforms expected to be implemented in 2010, which would change the seat balance as follows: 17 MPs would be popularly elected, nine MPs would be elected by the nobles and four MPs appointed by the king.[7]
Viliami Uasike Latu requested a recount in Vava'u, the constituency he contested, as he missed out on the second seat there by only 51 votes. The recount was conducted from 5 to 9 May at the Office of the Governor of Vava’u,[8] and confirmed the original result.[9]