Sawt Falasteen - Septet of PMs do battle in snap Vanuatu poll

After a campaign lasting just 10 days, ballots will be cast by up to 302,307 registered voters across some 80 isles straddling the Tropic of Capricorn.

The election was called two years earlier than expected after Loughman had parliament suspended to avoid a no-confidence vote that he may have lost.

A public holiday was declared for election day, but Edward Kaltamat, chairman of Vanuatu's Electoral office, told AFP turnout is expected to be low.

"With how the snap election came to be, the electoral office, candidates and voters were not ready," Kaltamat said. "Many living abroad had to rush to fill in proxy applications."

To campaign in such a short window, politicians turned to social media sites TikTok and Facebook to get their message across.

Australia lent a military plane, two helicopters and a sea vessel to transport ballot papers.

"Judging from past elections, turnout is very low which is a disregard for how costly an election is," said Kaltamat, who is overseeing voting.

"The current snap elections have disrupted the electoral cycle," he said, adding his office was "struggling to deal" with election activities.

As the incumbent, Loughman and his Vanua'aku Pati may have a head start on challengers, but a few of his political rivals have name recognition of their own.

Half of Vanuatu's former prime ministers are listed as candidates, though not all of them are considered serious contenders to form a government.

Seven women are also trying to crack Vanuatu's all-male parliament.

The group includes tech CEO Celine Bareus, who is running as an independent and drew sizable crowds to campaign events ahead of polling day.

The vote comes at a difficult time for the usually stable Melanesian nation.

Loughman's dissolution of parliament sparked a political crisis, with opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu -- who is not a former prime minister -- launching a bitter legal challenge.

Vanuatu's Supreme Court backed the government by ruling the dissolution was within the constitution.

The country's tourism-fuelled economy was badly hit by pandemic travel restrictions and both China and the United States are vying for influence across the South Pacific.

With a caretaker government in operation, Vanuatu had no leader to send to Washington for last month's meeting of Pacific leaders hosted by Joe Biden, instead sending ambassador Odo Tevi.

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST