Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

New Vanuatu parliament to elect PM on Monday

Posted at 05:32 on 13 November, 2012 UTC

The office of the clerk of parliament in Vanuatu has confirmed that the new parliament will meet on Monday to elect a new speaker and a prime minister.

The 52 elected members of parliament will first elect the speaker who will then conduct the election of the prime minister.

After that, the new prime minister will appoint his 13 ministers.

With less than a week to go, two rival groups - one led by Sato Kilman, the other by Edward Natapei - claim to have majority support.

Our correspondent says with 17 political parties winning seats the country is likely to face more instability than during the last parliament.