Tonga's parliament falls back to royal family connection for its new Prime Minister

Andrew Mathieson Published December 16, 2025 at 3.05pm (AWST)

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Tonga's new Prime Minister, Lord Fakafanua, is congratulated by MP Tevita Puloka after the parliamentary vote, as outgoing leader, Dr Aisake Eke, stands in the background (Image: Matangi Tonga).

Tonga's controlling royal family has further consolidated its pow er with the election of Lord Fatafehi Fakafanua as the nation's next Prime Minister.

The swing of power against Tonga's incumbent leader, Dr Aisake Eke, was sealed in the Fale Alea's Legislative Assembly on Monday after the parliamentary vote verified the result of the November 20 general election where 17 of the 26 MPs are elected.

Lord Fakafanua won the secret ballot 16 votes to 10 in a face-off with Dr Eke to be installed the 20th Prime Minister of Tonga.

Under Tonga's parliamentary election protocols, Lord Fakafanua and Dr Eke were only revealed as candidates for the Prime Minister's role by the interim speaker, Lord Tangi 'o Vaonukonuka, on the morning of the vote after convening the meeting of parliamentary representatives.

The Tongan electoral system reflects its unique position as the last Polynesian monarchy.

It has a blend of traditional heredity structures of chiefdom appointments that has slowly merged with more recent democratic political reforms.

The partially-elected parliament retains a majoritarian public voting system, but it also includes a further nine heredity nobles that are largely appointed by the state's king.

Lord Fakafanua grasped power in the lead-up to the parliamentary secret ballot after garnishing seven 'commoner' votes, according to Tongan media sources, in the 26-member Fale Alea amid a major shift of loyalties since the Pacific kingdom last introduced electoral reforms in 2014.

Several cabinet members including deputy Prime Minister Taniela Fusimalohi swung their support behind Lord Fakafanua.

Paula Piukala was another MP from Dr Eke's own cabinet that backed Lord Fakafanua after the Prime Minister last week suspended the minister for police and public enterprises while the country's anti-corruption agency investigates the allegations against Mr Piukala.

Lord Fakafanua is a member of the Tongan royal family through his mother's side of the family - she was the granddaughter of the Queen Salote III. He also has noble lineage through his father's side and his sister is married to the Crown Prince of Tonga.

The 40-year-old, who is also president of Tonga Rugby League, is the second-ever noble to become Prime Minister since the most recent constitutional reforms.

Prior to the reforms, only Tongan nobles could become a prime minister dating back from 1876 - a status which continued for the next 130 years.

There had been widespread speculation that King Tupou VI engineered a change of prime ministers by first removing his confi dence in the government of Siaosi Sovaleni in 2024 ahead of Dr Eke's time in power.

After last month's election, the king did appear to have the allegiance of the Prime Minister, a majority of members of the parliament and the Speaker of the House, Lord Vaea - a role solely for nobles - who is also the king's in-law as the brother of his wife, Queen Nanasipau'u.

The king's motivation may have come after renaming the national military in 2013 to first solidify his rule from the Tonga Defence Services to His Majesty's Armed Forces, so to control the military under his own command.

However, combined with the results of the recent national elections, King Tupou VI appeared to signal a genuine change of political direction in the kingdom, which had pursued greater democracy since the late 1980s.

The late George Tupou V - brother of the current king - oversaw constitutional amendments in 2010, allowing for 17 members of the legislature to be popularly elected, with the Prime Minister chosen solely by a parliamentary majority before the king's final approval.

The move was designed to give commoners more say in the legislature following unprecedented riots in the capital, Nuku'alofa, in 2006.

Lord Fakafanua, who has called for unity and urged MPs of the Fale Alea to serve the Tongan people despite record-low voter turnouts of just 49.4 per cent more than three weeks ago, must also appoint a new cabinet that the King's will look to approve.

Dr Eke leaves the Prime Ministerial office after less than a year in the job that followed a pressured resignation of Mr Sovaleni after facing of a vote of no confidence.