Thursday, September 12, 2019
Related articles
Location of Tonga
Collaborate!
Tonga
Pohiva in 2016
Image:
International Telecommunication Union
.
Akilisi Pohiva
, the
prime minister
of
Tonga
, died today at 10:00 a.m. Tongan time (2100
UTC
, yesterday) at the age of 78. Pohiva, who had been Tonga's prime minister since his election in 2014, was evacuated Wednesday afternoon from Tonga's capital,
Nuku?alofa
, to a hospital in
Auckland
,
New Zealand
, with pneumonia.
ABC
reported that Pohiva received medical treatment in New Zealand for problems with his liver this year. In the wake of Pohiva's death, Tonga's parliament, the
Legislative Assembly
, was suspended indefinitely according to local media.
Pohiva was a long-time advocate for democratization in Tonga,
The Guardian
reported. When elected prime minister by the parliament in 2014, it was the first time they had elected a commoner to the office; historically, prime ministers were appointed by the
King or Queen
. He first joined parliament in 1987, making him the longest serving member of Tonga's parliament. During that service, he was once jailed for contempt of parliament, in 1996, and was also changed with sedition in the aftermath of the
2006 pro-democracy riots
in Nuku?alofa.
Prior to joining parliament, Pohiva taught classes in sociology and history at the
University of the South Pacific
's campus in Tonga. In 2013, he became the first Pacific Islander to be awarded the
Parliamentarians for Global Action
's Defender of Democracy Award.
Sources
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Padlock-silver-medium.svg/40px-Padlock-silver-medium.svg.png) |
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.
|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Padlock-silver-medium.svg/40px-Padlock-silver-medium.svg.png) |
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.
|