Vanuatu - March 2025

Vanuatu’s coalition government announced planned electoral reforms on 7 March that would allow only indigenous ni-Vanuatu or “third-generation naturalized citizens“ to run for office. The change would mean that naturalised citizens who are not of ni-Vanuatu descent and their children would be ineligible to run for office, but their grandchildren would be. Passing and implementing the proposed reform is part of the coalition’s initial 100-day plan. Opposition MPs have decried the plan as racist, while the government justified its plans as intended to prevent participants in Vanuatu’s citizenship-by-investment (CBI, also known as a “golden visa”) program from interfering in the country’s politics. However, existing legislation already bars naturalised citizens who retain another citizenship from politics. Vanuatu has two elected officials who are naturalized citizens, both of whom are opposition MPs. As the reform involves a constitutional amendment it must be put to a referendum.

Sources: Vanuatu Daily Post, DevPolicy Blog