Siaosi Sovaleni

Mr Sovaleni was elected as Designate Prime Minister by 16 members of the 26-members parliament in a secret ballot on 15 December 2021, following Tonga's November General Election.

Matangi Tonga online reports he will hold the office of Prime Minister for four years.

He is the 18th Prime Minister of Tonga.

Sovaleni is the interim education minister, and is a former deputy prime minister.

He was the favourite to win the prime minister's seat, with a convincing lead emerging in recent days, and secured 16 out of 26 votes in the Legislative Assembly.

Sovaleni's election represents a change of government for the kingdom as his only rival candidate, 'Aisake Eke, had the backing of the former prime minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa.

Mr Sovaleni has gained support at the expense of his rival, former finance minister, 'Aisake Eke according to Radio New Zealand Pacific correspondent Kalafi Moala.

Mr Moala said Mr Sovaleni now has 12 MPs backing him with Mr Eke's numbers slipping to five, but he says the way the nine nobles vote remains the key.

He said there are reports that two nobles are preparing to back Mr Sovaleni, which give him the crucial 14 votes.

Following the November 18 general election Sovaleni has been rated by many Tongans here as the best choice for the top post.

He raked in a total of 2,084 votes of the total 2,502 votes cast in the constituency and was the top vote single earner from all the 17 constituencies.

The global conference on climate change is being chaired by Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, but Tonga's delegation will not include a cabinet minister.

Siaosi Sovaleni headed the ministry responsible for the environment and climate change until he was sacked days after Parliament was dissolved in August.

The election was subsequently brought forward a year to next week.

Mr Sovaleni said an unfortunate by-product is the lack of ministerial presence at COP 23.

The Clean Green Tonga initiative aims to work with community groups, schools and businesses to develop action plans on how they can make a difference in their communities.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Siaosi Sovaleni, says the aim is to stop people from burning and dumping rubbish, and to start taking care of their homes and public areas as part of daily life.

The interim CEO of the Waste Authority in Tonga, Tapu Panuve, says they want to make sure Tonga is a more welcoming country, and that people pick up the rubbish around them.

The partnership will see greater co-operation in how to link climate science with other sectors such as agriculture, health and disaster risk management. It builds on previous exchanges including a Tonga delegation visit to the centre in Korea in January.

Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said the memorandum symbolised the trust they had in each other. He said after an initial discussion regarding how to link climate and agriculture, they started talking about involving other sectors.