Nikenike Vurobaravu has been voted the 12th President of the Republic of Vanuatu.

It took eight rounds of voting by the 58-member Electoral College before he secured the required minimum number of 38 this afternoon.

In the end he got a resounding 47 votes, after the Prime Minister, Bob Loughman, reached a deal with the nine MPs of the coalition party led by former prime minister, Charlot Salwai.

Those nine MPs have been part of the government for the past year but had fallen out with Loughman over his plans for constitutional reform.

The new president has had involvement with Vanuatu governments going back many years.

Most recently he has been the High Commissioner to Fiji.

Vurobaravu has promised to encourage unity around the country and to promote the issue of climate change.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Congr’ns to newly elected ??President, H.E. Nikenike Vurobaravu. Among the 56 votes, Nikenike won 48 votes, more than 2/3. It was the 8th attempt by the college on the 3rd day to elect a new HoS. He succeeds Moses Obed Tallis, whose term of presidency ended on 6/07/2022. pic.twitter.com/ou8MKk6j0S

— Jason Daniel (@Jaxniel) July 23, 2022

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz