An MP for Vanuatu's oldest political party says the next government will have to overcome one of the country's greatest-ever challenges.
The Vanuatu parliament will sit for the first time since the election today, where a new coalition government will be formed.
A massive rebuild lies ahead in the wake of the extensive destruction caused by Cyclone Harold, and the country's tourism-dependent economy has been shattered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vanuatu parliament Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Johnny Koanapo, whose Vanua'aku Pati has signed an agreement with the previously opposition Union of Moderates Party, said whichever bloc forms government has a massive task.
"Four provinces have basically been drastically affected, that's a problem on top of a big problem of Covid-19."
"What's going to be on the agenda for any governoment of the day would have to be policies that activate the economy," he said.
Vanuatu government representatives Johnny Koanapo (left) and Ralph Regenvanu (right) with Octo Mote, the secretary-general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, in the middle, in Brussels, May 2017. Photo: Supplied