Record number of candidates for Vanuatu elections

(Radio Australia) Vanuatu's Electoral Office has confirmed that 334 candidates will contest the poll on September the second.Derek Brien from the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, in Port Vila, says he cannot see a majority government returned next month.He says it is more likely to be a parliament made up of a number of small parties, merged to form a coalition government.Mr Brien has told our Pacific Beat program, there have been a number of issues dominating debate ahead of the poll, but historically the electorate tends to vote for the person rather than what the party stands for."So politics here tends to be driven more by personality than by policy," he said."However the major policies that are being discussed are free education, free health care, opportunites for indigenous business people and investment and access to credit so they are the main things the parties are talking about."

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