General Election 19-20 March 2020

Cyclone Gretel, March 2020 (Covid-19 Pandemic 2020) 

Tropical cyclone Gretel caused substantial damage along the coast of New Caledonia on 15–16 March 2020 during the preparatory phase of Vanuatu’s election (European Commission 2020). This brought large waves and other adverse weather conditions to Vanuatu (European Commission 2020; EC 2020).  

Additionally, the country declared a state of emergency on 26 March 2020 as a precautionary measure against the Covid-19 pandemic, despite having no reported cases until November 2020 (EC 2020; Thornton 2020).  

Impact on the electoral process  

Large waves caused by tropical cyclone Gretel delayed two boats distributing electoral materials to constituencies in the North and South of Vanuatu. Although the majority of ballot boxes arrived on time, polling was delayed until 20 March in the Torres, Ambae, and Maewo constituencies. A small boat capsized while transporting ballot boxes the day before election day; new ballots were therefore printed and distributed by helicopter (EC 2020).The Covid-19 state of emergency brought some procedural changes including social distancing for the vote-counting process  (EC 2020; EC n.d.). The severe cyclone Harold struck Vanuatu on 6 April 2020, coinciding with the announcement of the election results (Newton Cain 2020).  

Voter turnout was 51.29 per cent, a decrease from the 56.47 per cent recorded in 2016 (International IDEA n.d).