Tongan general election, 2010

Early general elections under a new electoral law were held in Tonga on 25 November 2010.[1] They determined the composition of the 2010 Tongan Legislative Assembly.

The early elections were announced by the new King George Tupou V in July 2008 shortly before being crowned on 1 August 2008,[2][3] and were preceded by a programme of constitutional reform.[4] For the first time, a majority of the seats (17 out of 26) in the Tongan parliament were elected by universal suffrage, with the remaining nine seats being reserved for members of Tonga's nobility. This marked a major progression away from the 165-year rule of the monarchy towards a fully representative democracy.[5]

The Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands, founded in September 2010 specifically to fight the election and led by veteran pro-democracy campaigner 'Akilisi Pohiva, secured the largest number of seats, with 12 out of the seventeen "People's Representative" seats.


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