‘No doubt’ pro-China interests meddling in Solomon Islands elections, opposition figure claims

“During these past five years, there have been so many things that China was involved in. It’s really alarming at the moment,” Daniel Suidani said in an exclusive interview.

Suidani says he is troubled by what he believes is Beijing’s corrosive impact on democracy in the island nation.

A torrent of Chinese aid and investment has flowed into the country during Sogavare’s five years at the helm, and the 69-year-old has vowed to further deepen these ties if re-elected on Wednesday.

Fearful the money could one day come with strings attached, former Malaita premier Suidani was one of the rare provincial leaders who refused to cash China’s cheques.

Suidani accused Chinese interests of working behind the scenes to help keep pro-Beijing members in parliament.

“They are very, very involved in this government,” he said on a scratchy phone line from Auki, Malaita’s coastal provincial capital.

“They are involved in other things, so there is no doubt that they must be involved in elections. Because they have been doing it for some time.”

One of the most galvanising figures in Solomon Islands’ politics, Suidani commands an enthusiastic base of supporters on Malaita.

He was abruptly ousted as Malaita’s provincial leader in February 2023, defeated in a motion of no-confidence while he and his supporters were absent from parliament.

Suidani has accused Sogavare’s government of orchestrating what he said was an underhanded manoeuvre to silence one of its most vocal critics.

Observers of Pacific politics believe Sogavare has demonstrated increasingly autocratic tendencies in his quest to stay in power.

“For the international community, I would like to say that we need your support,” Suidani said. “We want to share the same freedom and liberty that