Solomon Islanders vote in election that will shape ties with China

Solomon Islanders have been voting in an election that could reshape regional security, with citizens effectively choosing if their Pacific nation will deepen ties with China.

Swelling crowds gathered early outside guarded election booths in the capital Honiara, pouring in to cast their ballots when voting opened at 7:00 am local time on Wednesday.

Voting day is an immense logistical challenge in the Solomon Islands, a nation of some 720,000 people spread across hundreds of volcanic islands and coral atolls.

Ballot boxes and voting papers have been despatched by boat, plane and helicopter to the many far-flung villages that make up the "Hapi Isles".

Teams of international observers are on hand to watch over voting in a nation where elections frequently spell trouble.

Police from Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea are on the ground to help the stretched local forces maintain peace.

Preparing for the prospect of violence after the vote, the Chinese embassy in downtown Honiara hastily erected a temporary steel fence out front this week.

It is the first election since Solomon Islands severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019, giving its backing to Beijing's "One China" principle instead.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has pledged to further bolster relations with Beijing if he is re-elected, while his main challengers want to wind back China's growing influence.

China's influence

The Solomon Islands has veered into China's orbit under the mercurial Sogavare, who signed a security pact with Beijing in 2022.

Although the final details are murky, Australia and the United States see the pact as as first step towards a permanent Chinese military base in the South Pacific.

Sogavare's main rivals include Peter Kenilorea, a former United Nations lawyer who wants to abolish the China pact.

Human rights campaigner Matthew Wale and economist Gordon Darcy Lilo — a former prime minister — are among other prominent opposition figures.

Boisterous elections

Solomon Islands' elections are peculiar in that voters do not choose their prime minister.

Instead, they elect representatives who negotiate behind closed doors to form a ruling coalition and pick a leader.

The coalition process can sometimes last weeks before the nation is finally presented with a government and a prime minister.

Elections are always boisterous, often tumultuous and sometimes violent in the Solomon Islands.

In 2000, then-prime minister Bart Ulufa'alu was forced to resign after he was kidnapped by gunmen.

International peacekeepers were deployed to quell post-election violence in 2006, with premier Snyder Rini pushed out of office after eight days.

Honiara residents have frequently cited creeping poverty and the lack of jobs as their main issues in the lead-up to polling day.