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King of Tonga to hand power to Prime Minister, ending era of absolute monarchy

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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Prime Minister of Tonga (pictured) is to receive the king's powers in 2010
Image: Elisia V. Gonzales.

George Tupou V, the current king of Tonga, has announced that he will give up his position as an absolute monarch by relinquishing most of his powers. A spokesperson for the king explained the decision. He said that the people "favour a more representative, elected parliament, the king agrees with them."

The spokesperson said that Tupou would be guided by the Prime Minister, Feleti Sevele, "in all matters of governance." The transition to democracy is due to occur in 2010.

In 2006, eight people were killed in Tonga during a pro-democracy rally. Protests like this have resulted in increased pressure being placed on the monarchy to embrace democracy.

Feleti Sevele became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Tonga after his election in 2006. At that time he was one of very few ministers who were not appointed by the king, and the power of the PM was limited.


Sources

  • Tonga's king to cede key powers — BBC News Online, July 29, 2008
  • Tonga's King George Tupou V to end feudal rule and embrace democracy — The Daily Telegraph, July 29, 2008
  • Tonga gets first elected leader — The Daily Telegraph, February 13, 2006


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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
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