BACKGROUND ON VANUATU'S 2 NOVEMBER 1983 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05450255
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2018
• Case Number: F-2017-01753
• Publication Date: December 20, 1983

Approved for Release: 2018/08/08 C05450255
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CIA 781557
NSA FOR ZHU 00 DLS DE (FOR NSOC); STATE FOR INR.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WARNING: INFORMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE.
REPORT CLASS S Eil/ft E T--WNINTEL--NOFINN
DIST: 20 DECEMBER 1983
COUNTRY: VANUATU
SUBJ : BACKGROUND ON VANUATU'S 2 NOVEMBER 1983
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
DO) : NOVEMBER 1983
SOURCE :
I. BY MOST MEASUREMENTS, VANUATU'S 2 NOVEMBER 1983 PARLIAMENTARY
ELECTIONS RAN FAIRLY WELL. THIS IS DESPITE COMPARATIVELY LARGE
FUNDING OF THE OPPOSITION'S EFFORT BY OUTSIDE INFLUENCE, BOTH
AMERICAN AND FRENCH, MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR LAWSUITS AGAINST THE
GOVERNMENT BY THE OPPOSITION, AND DELAYS IN FORMULATING THE ELECTION
RESULTS.
2. ALTHOUGH THE VANUA'AKU PATI (VP) ELECTION PLATFORM WAS A 52-
PAGE DOCUMENT AVAILABLE AT ONLY A PEW BOOKSTORES, THE PRIMARY THEME
ESPOUSED BY THE VP THROUGHOUT THE CAMPAIGN WAS THAT THE OPPOSITION
PARTIES, INCLUDING THE UNION OF MODERATE PARTIES (OH, NAGRIAMEL,
HAMM AUTE, INDEPENDENT, THE FRENCH MELANESIAN PARTY (HIP) AND THE
VANUATU INDEPENDENT ALLIANCE PARTY (VIAP), MAINTAINED TIES TO THE
U.S. BASED PHOENIX FOUNDATION. EVEN TO THE POORLY EDUCATED VILLAGER
OR TRIBESMAN, THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION HAS COME TO MEAN, THE BIG HAD
WHITE MAN." THE SECONDARY ISSUE FOR THE VP DURING THE CAMPAIGN WAS
ITS RESPECT FOR THE TRADITIONAL OWNERSHIP OF LAND AND THE
ASSOCIATED SECURITY SUCH OWNERSHIP AFFORDED THE AVERAGE NI-VANUATU
FAMILY. VANUATU'S PRIME MINISTER, WALTER H. ((LINO), RELEASED
DOCUMENTS, WHICH HE HAD SECRETLY STOLEN FROM THE OPPOSITION,
DEMONSTRATING THE OPPOSITION'S INTENT TO PERMIT "FOREIGNERS" (I.E.
FOREIGN INVESTORS) THE RIGHT TO TAKE LAND AWAY FROM THE VANUATU
PEOPLE. FIGHTING WHAT WAS A LOSING CAUSE, THE OPPOSITION REPEATED
ITS MAIN THEME THAT LINI AND HIS GOVERNMENT WERE GROWING INCREASINGLY
CLOSE TO THE COMMUNISTS, SPECIFICALLY CUBA, AND THAT THIS TREND WAS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE. A PRIMARY FAULT OF THE OPPOSITION DURING ITS
CAMPAIGN WAS THE USE OF SPEECHES WRITTEN BY EUROPEAN OUTSIDERS WHO
INCORPORATED PHRASEOLOGY FAR ABOVE THE COMPREHENSION LEVEL OF THE
AVERAGE NI-VANUATU. SECONDLY, THE OPPOSITION FAILED TO FOCUS ON ISSUES
OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE TO THE AVERAGE NI-VANUATU, SUCH AS HIS HOME,
ABILITY TO FEED HIMSELF AND HIS GENERAL SECURITY. WHEN WILLIE
(LJIMMY)), THE UMP COORDINATOR FOR THESE ELECTIONS AND MP FROM VILA,
BROUGHT A MULI-MILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT AGAINST LINI AND THE GOVERN-
MENT CLAIMING THAT THEY HAD NO PROOF OF OPPOSITION TIES TO THE
PHOENIX FOUNDATION, LINI BEGAN RELEASING DETAILS VIA RADIO AND
CAMPAIGN SPEECHES OF OPPOSITION MEMBERS' TRAVELS ABROAD AND
SUBSEQUENT RECEIPT OF FUNDING FROM OUTSIDE SOURCES. JIMMY'S LAWSUIT
WAS SUBSEQUENTLY DROPPED IN LOW-KEY FASHION.
3. LINI BEGAN TO RECEIVE INFORMATION EARLY IN THE CAMPAIGN THAT
THE OPPOSITION, PRIMARILY THE UMP, WAS RECEIVING FUNDS FROM FRENCH
AND AMERICAN SOURCES. BY THE TIME THE BALLOTS WERE CAST, THE
OPPOSITION HAD RECEIVED A TOTAL OF OVER 03200,000 IN CASH AND
AIRLINE TICKETS. THIS SHARPLY CONTRASTS WITH ONLY U5$50,000, RAISED
SOLELY THROUGH CONTRIBUTIONS, WHICH THE VP HAD AVAILABLE TO SPEND
HOWEVER, THE LINI GOVERNMENT OBTAINED EVIDENCE THAT AT LEAST HALF
OF THE OPPOSITION'S OUTSIDE FUNDING WAS "SQUANDERED" ON PERSONAL
EXPENSES FOR ANYTHING FROM DENTAL REPAIR TO TELEVISION SETS AND
WOMEN.
4. WHILE THE VP MAINTAINED WELL-BASED CONFIDENCE THROUGHOUT
THE CAMPAIGN THAT IT WOULD WIN BY A WIDE MARGIN, THE OPPOSITION
BELIEVED WRONGLY UP UNTIL ELECTION DAY THAT IT COULD WIN OVER VP
BY A MARGIN OF 20 SEATS TO 19, THIS VIEW WAS BASED PRIMARILY UPON
OPPOSITION POLLING IN THE PORT VILA AND EFATE ISLAND AREAS BUT FAILED
TO INCLUDE ACCURATE ESTIMATES OF LINI'S GRASS-ROOTS SUPPORT ELSE-
WHERE. DESPITE THESE FAILURES AND ABUSE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS, WILLIE
JIMMY AND THE OPPOSITION ARE CONSIDERED A SUCCESS BY MOST SUPPORTERS
OF THEIR CAUSE. NOW THAT THE VP HAS LOST THE TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY
(b)(3)
IN PARLIAMENT (BY LOSING TWO SEATS), IT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO
CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION EASILY.
5. ONE OPPOSITION MEMBER OF CONSIDERABLE INFLUENCE WHO IS
UNHAPPY WITH THE ELECTION RESULTS, HOWEVER, IS PIERRE ((BOURGEOIS)),
Ft FRENCH BUSINESSMAN AND HEAD OF VANUATU'S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
BOURGEOIS IS THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES POLITICAL
FORCE OF WILLIE JIMMY AND CONTROLLER OF HIS BUSINESS INTERESTS.
TO FURTHER CEMENT THEIR RELATIONSHIP, BOURGEOIS RECENTLY MADE
JIMMY HIS DEPUTY AT THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. BOURGEOIS'S GOAL IS
TO ONE DAY CONTROL THE VANUATU GOVERNMENT FROM BEHIND THE SCENES,
IN ALL HIS OWN BUSINESS INTERESTS AND OTHERS ON WHICH HE CAN ASSERT (b)(1 )
CONTROL, BOURGEOIS EMPLOYS ONLY ANGLOPHILE CATHOLICS AND FORCES ,,,NtoN
EACH TO VOTE AS BOURGEOIS DEMANDS. AFTER THE OPPOSITION'S RECENT kIJ/k�)
ELECTION EFFORTS FAILED, BOURGEOIS BEGAN TO EVALUATE OTHER AVENUES
FOR EXERTING HIS PERSONAL INFLUENCE ON THE NEW GOVERNMENT. HE
BELIEVED THAT THERE MIGHT BE POTENTIAL OPPOSITION TO LINI AS PRIME
MINISTER AND IF A SUFFICIENTLY POPULAR CANDIDATE WERE NOMINATED
FOR THE POSITION, LINI COULD BE OUSTED. BOURGEOIS FELT THAT BARAK
((SOPE)) WOULD HAVE THE GREATEST APPEAL TO VP AND OPPOSITION
PARLIAMENT MEMBERS ALIKE, AND BELIEVED THAT HE (BOURGEOIS) AND HIS
VIETNAMESE BUSINESS COLLEAGUES, ((DINH)) VAN THO AND ((DINH)) VAN
LUAN, WOULD BE ABLE TO CONTROL SOPE, THEIR PARTNER IN PREVIOUS
BUSINESS VENTURES. BOURGEOIS APPROACHED SOPE PRIVATELY AND DISCUSSED
A PLAN TO HAVE AN OPPOSITION MP NOMINATE SOPE AS A CANDIDATE FOR
PRIME MINISTER ON 21 NOVEMBER 1983, THE FIRST DAY OF SITTING FOR
THE NEW PARLIAMENT. son CAREFULLY CONSIDERED BOURGEOIS'S PROPOSAL
BUT DECIDED THAT IF NOMINATED, HE WOULD DECLINE THE NOMINATION.
DESPITE SOPE'S DECISION TO DECLINE BOURGEOIS'S OFFER, IT IS
BELIEVED BY OPPOSITION MEMBERS THAT SOPE WILL NOT TELL LINI
ANYTHING ABOUT THE SCHEME.
WARNING: REPORT CLASS sk,,e'k E T--WARNING NOTICE INTELLIGENCE
SOURCES OR METHODS INVOIVED--NOT RELEASABLE TO FOREIGN NATIONALS.
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