Tonga’s prime minister resigns as defense minister following pressure from king

Photo: Linny Folau/AFP. Retrieved from benarnews.org

Tonga’s king has prevailed in a two-month standoff with the elected prime minister over control of the prestigious foreign affairs and defense ministries in a setback for the Pacific island country’s young democracy.

Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni on Thursday told Parliament he had resigned as defense minister and that Fekita ‘Utoikamanu – the only woman in Tonga’s Cabinet – had resigned as foreign minister and tourism minister, according to a statement on the Tongan Parliament’s website.

The statement gave no explanation and said no successors had been named. The prime minister “told Parliament that there is still no appointment for the Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs,” it said.

The changes come two months after Tonga’s King Tupou VI withdrew his “confidence and consent” in Sovaleni as armed forces minister and in ‘Utoikamanu as foreign affairs minister, according to a leaked letter from the monarch’s advisory council.