{"id":9674,"date":"2025-12-17T17:19:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T17:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/?p=9674"},"modified":"2026-03-28T16:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:09:24","slug":"lord-fakafanua-elected-prime-minister-designate-of-the-kingdom-of-tonga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/lord-fakafanua-elected-prime-minister-designate-of-the-kingdom-of-tonga\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Fakaf\u0101nua elected Prime Minister-Designate of the Kingdom of Tonga"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"316\" data-end=\"603\">Following the general elections of <strong data-start=\"351\" data-end=\"371\">20 November 2025<\/strong>, the Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom of Tonga has elected <strong data-start=\"434\" data-end=\"461\">Lord Fatafehi Fakaf\u0101nua<\/strong> as <strong data-start=\"465\" data-end=\"493\">Prime Minister-designate<\/strong>. His election took place on <strong data-start=\"522\" data-end=\"542\">15 December 2025<\/strong>, in a secret ballot of the 26 elected members of parliament.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"605\" data-end=\"913\">Lord Fakaf\u0101nua, who has served as <strong data-start=\"639\" data-end=\"705\">Speaker of the Legislative Assembly for a total of eight years<\/strong> \u2014 from <strong data-start=\"713\" data-end=\"729\">2012 to 2014<\/strong> and again from <strong data-start=\"745\" data-end=\"761\">2018 to 2025<\/strong> \u2014 has now been succeeded in that role by <strong data-start=\"803\" data-end=\"850\">Lord \u02bbAlipate Tu\u02bbivanuavou Vaea (Lord Vaea)<\/strong>, elected unopposed as the new Speaker during the same sitting.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"915\" data-end=\"1265\">In accordance with Tonga\u2019s constitutional procedures, Lord Fakaf\u0101nua now awaits <strong data-start=\"995\" data-end=\"1083\">his formal appointment by the Head of State and Sovereign, His Majesty King Tupou VI<\/strong>. Once appointed and sworn in, he will become the <strong data-start=\"1133\" data-end=\"1180\">20th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga<\/strong>, while Lord Vaea will assume office as the next Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1267\" data-end=\"1316\"><strong data-start=\"1271\" data-end=\"1316\">Biography of the Prime Minister-Designate<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1318\" data-end=\"1586\"><strong data-start=\"1318\" data-end=\"1345\">Lord Fatafehi Fakaf\u0101nua<\/strong>, 8th Lord Fakaf\u0101nua, is a respected Tongan noble and long-serving parliamentarian. He first entered the Legislative Assembly in 2008 as a nobles\u2019 representative. His time in national leadership includes two substantial periods as Speaker in <strong data-start=\"1589\" data-end=\"1602\">2012\u20132014<\/strong>, and <strong data-start=\"1612\" data-end=\"1625\">2018\u20132025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1630\" data-end=\"2114\">Born in 1985, he is recognised as one of the youngest political leaders in Tonga\u2019s modern history. With close links to the Tongan Royal Family and academic training in law, diplomacy and international affairs, Lord Fakaf\u0101nua has championed parliamentary stability, youth empowerment, and constructive cooperation between nobles and people\u2019s representatives. His election represents a significant moment in Tonga\u2019s political evolution and reflects renewed confidence in his leadership.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1630\" data-end=\"2114\">HM Hon Consul-General of Tonga to Portugal Anthony Bailey extended his congratulations to the Prime Minister-Designate Lord Fakaf\u0101nua recalling that only a couple weeks earlier on 29 October 2025 whilst in Gozo, Malta, both met to discuss Tongan-Portuguese Relations.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1630\" data-end=\"2114\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following the general elections of 20 November 2025, the Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom of Tonga has elected Lord Fatafehi Fakaf\u0101nua as Prime Minister-designate. His election took place on 15 December 2025, in a secret ballot of the 26 elected members of parliament. Lord Fakaf\u0101nua, who has served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"image_01":11019,"image_02":"","image_03":"","image_04":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonga-gov.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}