Vanuatu's electoral office will vet the names of 35 candidates - including two women - for the country's presidency.
Baldwin Lonsdale Photo: AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura
The former president, Baldwin Lonsdale, died earlier this month of a heart attack.
Applications closed last night, and the Daily Post reported that there was a last minute rush of applicants.
Meanwhile, a new political bloc, called U-Bloc, said it would support any political party that fields a female candidate as Head of State.