An academic says the election of the new Solomon Islands Prime Minister is a sign that party politics is still far from established in the country.
The comment from Dr Jon Fraenkel of the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific follows yesterday's election of Danny Philip as Solomons' Prime Minister.
Following weeks of lobbying by MPs in Honiara's hotels, Mr Philip won 26 votes in the 50 seat parliament.
His is a coalition of various independent MPs, splinter political groups, some notorious businessmen and former militants.
Dr Fraenkel says it's difficult to introduce legislation to effectively control these Prime Ministerial election races.
"This is business as usual, this is Melanesian-style politics. We've seen it in Vanuatu, and in Papua New Guinea. There are various efforts to try and influence this politics by legislation. People have a conviction that electoral reform might do something about it. That's not really the case."
Jon Fraenkel of the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific.
