Vanuatu PM loses seat in blunder

November 29, 2009 09:59:12 AM

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Vanuatu's prime minister has lost his seat in parliament due to a simple paperwork error, officials said, throwing the tiny Pacific nation's politics into turmoil.

Prime Minister Edward Natapei forfeited his seat after missing three consecutive sittings without notifying the speaker, a blunder one analyst called "flabbergasting".

"It was a standing order," an official at the speaker's office told AFP. "If you miss three consecutive meetings, your seat will be declared vacant."

Natapei was rushing back from a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago, while his cabinet went into emergency talks.

According to Derek Brien of the Pacific Institute of Public Policy think-tank, Vanuatu will be ruled by a caretaker government until parliament elects a new prime minister next week.

To retain his seat, Natapei needed only to hand in a signed explanation for his absence, reports said.

"It's truly unbelievable something as basic as that could have been overlooked," Brien said. "It's flabbergasting. I truly am shocked this has happened."

Brien said an MP had lost his seat for the same reason in the 1980s, despite a legal appeal. He predicted furious horse-trading over the weekend as politicians bid for the premiership and cabinet positions.

"It's a massive oversight by the prime minister's people," he said. "All they had to do was give notice he's away on official business."

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