Vanuatu's Prime Minister Ham Lini says he's confident his coalition government has the numbers to survive the sudden defection of the Vanuaaku Pati.
The VP was forced to resign from the coalition government after supporting plans for a motion of no-confidence in Mr Lini's leadership.
The motion was filed in recent days by the leader of the opposition Serge Vohor.
However, it may be withdrawn because Mr Vohor and his Union of Moderate Parties has now agreed to join Mr Lini's coalition after VP's departure.
Mr Lini, who has survived several such motions in his three years of rule, says he expects this one to be defeated too.
"Actually we are solid and we will be defending the motion. But actually it will be withdrawn when we get in [to parliament] because the mover of the motion is now on my side. At the moment we've got about 30 MPs; we lost at least 10 from Vanuaaku Pati and then we've received UMP with seven and three other independents who withdrew their signatures [from the motion] earlier on."
Ham Lini
