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Solomon Islands parliament on Friday elected opposition leader Matthew Wale as prime minister, after incumbent Jeremiah Manele was ousted from power last week in a no-confidence vote.
Wale defeated Peter Shanel Agovaka by 26 votes to 22 in a ballot of the country’s members of parliament, governor general David Tiva Kapu, told a news conference.
Opposition leader since 2019, when Solomons switched ties from Taiwan to China, Wale has campaigned for greater government transparency in dealings with foreign mining and logging businesses.
The former accountant hails from Malaita, the most populous province whose local government boycotted Chinese companies until 2023.
Located 1,600km (1,000 miles) northeast of Australia, the strategic importance of Solomon Islands has been in focus in recent years due to its strengthening ties with China.
In 2022, it signed a security pact with China that prompted concern from the United States and South Pacific neighbours. Wale was highly critical of the deal, saying it would affect regional security and could jeopardise relationships with existing partners.
In 2023, he criticised then prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, who struck the deal with China, saying he was “back home” upon arriving in Beijing on a visit that year.
But in 2025, Wale’s tone softened. Leading a delegation to Beijing, he praised China’s economic development and said his party supported the one-China principle, according to a readout of the visit provided by the Communist party of China.
After his election on Friday, Wale said he was taking government “at a difficult time, given what is happening throughout the world”.
“We are not immune from the impacts of these geopolitical events,” he said.
Wale’s election was “a seismic shift” in Solomons politics, said associate professor at the Australian National University, Anouk Ride.
He was likely to be “more moderate” on China ties, and focused on the national interest, education, policing and health, she told AFP.
Ordinary Solomon Islanders are struggling because of a surge in fuel prices brought on by the war in the Middle East and there had been little improvement to health and education in rural villages since a conflict destroyed many services 20 years ago.
Australia prime minister Anthony Albanese congratulated Wale on his appointment on X. “I look forward to working together to continue strengthening our economic, development and security partnership,” Albanese said.
