Vanuatu holds election amid earthquake devastation
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Residents line up to vote amid political instability and buildings and infrastructure shattered by last month’s earthquake. Polls have opened in Vanuatu , a Pacific nation grappling with political instability and the logistics of holding a snap election in the aftermath of a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 14 people and displaced thousands.
![[Voters at the Freshwota polling station in Vanuatu. ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8419b454e2b8b688317002911f3c627b3738892f/0_0_5568_3712/master/5568.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
As downtown Port Vila remained shuttered, with multiple buildings earmarked for demolition, some residents lined up in tents from 6.30am to vote. “I’m looking for someone who has heart, we are facing a disaster, we need someone with integrity and who is going to be stable,” student Jeffrey Namu, 24, said.
![[The banner of candidate Marie Louise Milne from Vanuatu Green Confederation (VGC) hanging at the entrance of Holen Mataso community.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d3edb2b8421eeac3ba88e609a60b28df6ba02d0c/0_0_5568_3712/master/5568.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
More than 350 police officers joined election officials to oversee the elections, in a country where crime and gender-based violence has been on the increase since the quake on 17 December. “It was a challenge for us, it’s very difficult and we don’t want to deprive anyone of the right to vote,” principal electoral officer Guilain Malessas said.
![[The campaign team of the Union of Moderate Parties (UMP) travels in convoy.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/25579ab5d66b4a8a7ffc8eedd578093583c4dd66/0_0_5568_3712/master/5568.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Polls will close at 4.30pm, and the new parliament must sit within 21 days of the official results being declared. But even as many rebuilt their homes, there was hope – especially among Vanuatu’s youth – that the next government could help glue the country together. “Vanuatu is more at risk from climate change and we need the government to be stable so that when disaster comes, we can address it,” says Laetitia Metsan, 21, an environmental protection student. “For a lot of young people, we are sick of it.”.
