General Information
At Stake in this Election:
- 17 seats in the Tonga Legislative Assembly (Fale Alea)
Government Structure:
- Chief of State: King TUPOU VI (since 19 March 2012)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Pōhiva TU’I’ONETOA (since 8 October 2019)
- Assembly: Tonga possesses a unicameral Legislative Assembly with 26 seats
Electoral System:
- The head of state is a hereditary position held by King TUPOU VI, who assumed the throne following the death of his brother TUPOU V on 18 March 2012. [1]
- The Legislative Assembly (Fale Alea) is a unicameral institution consisting of 26 seats, 9 of which are indirectly elected by Tonga’s 33 noble families. [2] The remaining seats are filled by “People’s Representatives,” or parliamentarians who are directly elected from among 17 single-member constituencies using a first-past-the-post system. [3]
- Following the elections, the newly convened Legislative Assembly votes on who will assume the office of prime minister.
Last Election:
- The previous election was held on 16 November 2017. The Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands won 14 of the 17 contested seats.
Main Candidates in this Election:
- Party: Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands (DPFI / PATOA) / Paati Temokalati ʻa e ʻOtu Motu ʻAngaʻofa
- Leader: Semisi SIKA
- Seats won in last election: 14
- Party: Tonga People’s Party (TPPI) / Paati ʻa e Kakai ʻo Tonga
- Leader: Pōhiva TU’I’ONETOA
- Seats won in last election: New
- Party: Independents
- Leader: N/A
- Seats won in last election: 3
Gender Data:
- Female Population: 52,875 (November 2021 est.) [6]
- Is Tonga a signatory to CEDAW: No [7]
- Has Tonga ratified CEDAW: No [8]
- Gender Quota: No [9]
- Female Candidates in this election: 12 [10]
- Number of Female Legislators: 2 out of 17 seats [11]
- Human Development Index (HDI) Position: Rank 104 at 0.725 (2020) [12]
- Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: No data [13]
Disability Data:
- Is Tonga a signatory to CRPD: Yes (15 November 2007) [14]
- Has Tonga ratified CRPD: No [15]
- Population with a disability: 15,975 (November 2021 est.) [16]
[1] https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3121/
[2] https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/455977/polls-in-tonga-open-for-2021-election
[3] http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2317_B.htm
[4] https://countrymeters.info/en/Tonga
[5] http://archive.ipu.org/parline/reports/2317.htm
[6] https://countrymeters.info/en/Tonga
[7] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en
[8] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en
[9] https://devpolicy.org/no-women-elected-in-tonga-time-to-change-the-story-20211119/
[10] https://devpolicy.org/no-women-elected-in-tonga-time-to-change-the-story-20211119/
[11] https://web.archive.org/web/20171116190053/https://asiapacificreport.nz/2017/11/17/tongan-democrat-landslide-delivers-numbers-for-pohiva-government/
[12] http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/NIC
[13] https://www.genderindex.org/country-profiles/
[14] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=176&Lang=EN
[15] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=176&Lang=EN
[16] http://www.electionaccess.org/en/resources/countries/to/all/