‘Copper and solar’: the gendered politics of service delivery in Solomon Islands

Abstract

Clientelism, and how clientelist political systems evolve over time, is of enduring interest to scholars of politics. The rise of constituency development funds (CDFs), especially in countries where they have come to represent a significant proportion of the government budget, complicates these dynamics, with some arguing their influence in Melanesia has prompted the emergence of a distinct form of statehood. But where do women fit into CDF politics, and this new form of statehood? This article introduces a gendered lens to the emerging literature on CDFs, using a case study of an incumbent woman member of parliament’s campaign for re-election in Solomon Islands. It finds that changing political dynamics in Solomon Islands have not challenged the male dominance of the political space; there are, however, entry points for well-positioned women to gain a political foothold in the new Melanesian state. These findings suggest new avenues for future research, incorporating theories of gender and politics with the emerging literature on CDFs.

Keywords:

• Clientelism
• constituency development funding
• elections
• gender and feminism
• political economy
• Solomon Islands

Acknowledgements

This research was carried out by the author as part of the Australian National University Department of Pacific Affairs Domestic Election Observation project, which was jointly funded by the Australian National University Department of Pacific Affairs and the Australian Government through the Australian High Commission in Honiara and the Pacific Research Program. The author thanks Julien Barbara and James Batley, as well as two anonymous reviewers, for their thoughtful and constructive feedback on earlier drafts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Melanesia is a sub-region of the broader Pacific Islands region, usually defined as including four independent states (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu), as well as the French territory of New Caledonia, and certain regions of Indonesia, notably Papua and West Papua.

2 Initially funded by the Republic of China (Taiwan), CDFs in Solomon Islands – called Rural Constituency Development Funds, although they are available to both rural and urban constituencies – are now mostly funded by the Solomon Islands Government. When Solomon Islands switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 2018, it secured an agreement from China to contribute towards CDFs. According to the Solomon Islands Government’s 2021 budget, Chinese support for constituency development for the financial year totalled SBD90 million (approximately USD11 million). This is in addition to the SBD252 million (approximately USD31 million) allocated to constituency development from the Solomon Islands government, for a total of SBD342 million (approximately USD42 million).

3 There was one other female MP who had served in the previous term, Freda Tuki Soriacomua; she had won the seat of Temotu Vatud in the 2014 general election but was removed as MP after an election petition case against her was successful, in October 2018. As this was less than six months prior to a general election, no by-election was held, and Soriacomua recontested (and won) the seat of Temotu Vatud in the 2019 election.

4 For example, Is it important to have women MPs? Do women and men campaign differently?

5 For more on the methodology and approach of the election observation project, see Wiltshire et al. (2019).

6 The number of registered voters in 2019 ranged from 3142 (Malaita Outer Islands) to 15,986 (Central Honiara). These size discrepancies, particularly between large urban constituencies and small remote constituencies, have significant impacts on access to CDFs as MPs receive the same share regardless of their constituency’s population size.

7 Solomon Islands has a first-past-the-post electoral system.

8 The slow process of election petitions was a key point of contention in Solomon Islands politics. In 2017, an electoral reform act passed by parliament included provisions that election petitions must be decided within a year of submission.

9 Hopa was a former teacher and current businessman, originally from Choiseul but based in the township of Ringgi Cove in Kolombangara. He had previously been a member of the Western Provincial Assembly, but had lost his seat in the 2018 provincial election. The 2019 election was generally viewed as a two-horse race between Tanangada and Lilo, and Hopa even referred to himself as the ‘third candidate’ at a campaign event in Gizo on 1 April.

10 Tanangada’s campaign also drew on party policies, emphasising in particular the Kadere Party’s traditional governance policy, although campaign team insiders acknowledged privately that they were not sure that most voters understood the party system (pers. comm., April 2019).

11 Hilda Kari, the first woman elected post-independence to the Parliament of Solomon Islands, had first won a by-election in 1989, for the seat of North East Guadalcanal; in 1993, the new constituency of East Central Guadalcanal was created and Kari moved to successfully contest it in the general election that year. She was re-elected as the MP for East Central Guadalcanal in 1997. As noted above, Freda Tuki Soriacomua won the seat of Temotu Vatud in both the 2014 and 2019 general elections, although a successful electoral petition meant she was removed as the incumbent MP in 2018.

Additional information

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Kerryn Baker

Kerryn Baker is Fellow in the Department of Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. Her research on gender, politics and participation has been published in leading journals including the International Political Science Review, Pacific Affairs, Government and Opposition, and Parliamentary Affairs. Her book Pacific Women in Politics: Gender Quota Campaigns in the Pacific Islands was published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2019 and was awarded the 2021 Carole Pateman Gender and Politics Book Prize by the Australian Political Studies Association. She is also the co-editor (with Marian Sawer) of Gender Innovation in Political Science: New Norms, New Knowledge (Palgrave, 2019).