11 Apr 2014

Niue to elect new parliament

3:20 pm on 11 April 2014

Voters on Niue get to elect a new 20-member parliament this weekend, but not a lot of change is expected.

All the current MPs are vying to return among a total of 41 people standing.

Six of the sitting village MPs have already won unopposed while seven of the remaining eight villages have just two candidates.

Don Wiseman has more:

"The Niue electorate is tiny. Only about 500 electors are expected to cast their two votes - one for their village MP and another for the common roll on which they can rank up to six candidates from the 17 standing. There is continuing support for the leadership of Premier Toke Talagi who has led the country for the past six years. This is on the back of his fostering the tourism sector. Businessman Avi Rubin just wants more of the same, though he says new blood in parliament is good: 'But as long as the direction stays the same. We started the tourism and the big push for it. As long as the current government or the new government as long as they continue doing what we are doing, aiming to increase the tourist numbers and everything else that comes with it.' But long time MP, Terry Coe, standing in his 6th election, says the people do have real concerns, such as the poor state of the roads, telecommunications and water systems."