Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

15 candidates stand for Vanuatu presidency

Posted at 04:11 on 27 August, 2009 UTC

The names of 15 candidates have been submitted to Vanuatu’s electoral office for Tuesday’s election of a new president.

The office says the names of the 13 men and two women will be submitted to the office of the speaker of parliament tomorrow.

The last president was Kalkot Mataskelekele, whose term expired in mid-August.

The Union of Moderate Party’s Serge Vohor, has already made his position clear that he will support a bilingual female candidate.

The only such candidate is Yvette Sam who is currently working for a mining company in New Caledonia

Under the constitution, a candidate must win the support of two thirds of the electoral college to be elected as a new president.

The electoral college is made up of the 52 members of the parliament and the presidents of 6 provincial governments.