Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Three Cabinet Ministers in Tonga resign ahead of confidence motion

Posted at 23:10 on 25 June, 2012 UTC

Three cabinet ministers in the Tonga Government have resigned ahead of a likely vote of no confidence in the Lord Tu’ivakano administration later this week.

The trio are Minister of Labour Isileli Pulu, Police Minister Sunia Fili and the Health Minister, Uliti Uata.

They are members of the Democratic Party which presented a motion for a vote of no confidence last week claiming that the government had lost the trust of the people.

Our correspondent, Mateni Tapueluelu, says the opposition now has the backing of 13 of the 26 MPs allowed to vote on the confidence motion.

“If all the nobles vote for the Government one of them will have to be the Speaker and that will leave the majority on the side of the Party, on the People’s side. At the moment not all of the noble MPs are in Tonga and therefore there is a shortage there. There is also the expectation that some may abstain.”