Ishmael Kalsakau has been elected unopposed as the 13th Prime Minister of the republic of Vanuatu by secret ballot.
Kalsakau was elected by the 52 members of the country’s parliament on Friday 4 November.

“Thank you, thank you for the election,” Kalsakau said after the vote.

The former prime minister and president of the Vanua’aku Party, Bob Loughman, stood up at the session and said his group had no candidate to put forward for prime minister but would vote for Kalsakau.
Under the national constitution, a prime minister must be elected by a secret ballot even if standing unopposed.

Kalsakau was elected by 50 votes, with two invalid votes.
At the time of his election the new coalition government led by Prime Minister Kalsakau was composed of eight political parties and no independents.RNZ NEWS