The Solomon Islands’ government has voted to delay its national elections, after it passed a controversial bill submitted by the prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, to postpone the poll until after the country has hosted the Pacific Games in November 2023. The vote passed with 37 votes for, nine against and three MPs absent during the voting. The latest development means that instead of a vote in the second half of 2023, the 11th parliament will now end on 31 December 2023, with an election to be held in late April 2024. Sogavare defended the push to delay the election, saying the country’s limited resources meant it was unable to host two large-scale events in one year. “The reasons are simple and we have consistently said this since day one, we cannot successfully host the national general election and the Pacific Games in the same year while our economy is still recovering from the impacts of Covid-19 and the damage caused by public unrest,” he said. However, opposition leader Matthew Wale said the delay was part of a “scheme” by the prime minister to remain in power for longer than is necessary at the cost of citizens’ right to vote. “There was clear intent to hide the decision from the public. Since February 2021, the PM schemed to not allocate resources to the electoral commission for elections preparations in the normal manner,” he said in parliament. “The people’s government and the people’s parliament are being abused in this bill by the few who are exercising executive government powers.” Sogavare also accepted Australia’s offer to fund the delayed elections, which he had previously been highly critical of, saying they should “get ready” for the “big cost”. Earlier this week, Sogavare responded furiously to an offer from the Australian government to assist with funding the election, calling it “foreign interference”. He said the timing of the offer was “inappropriate” when the bill to defer the election was before parliament. Speaking to parliament on Thursday, Sogavare welcomed the offer, saying: “We look forward to Australia’s offer to assist us in funding the pre-requisite electoral reforms and the conduct of the national elections. “They’ve offered now, so you get ready brother to fund the costs. It’s a big cost, Mr Speaker. The electoral commission needs a lot of money.” The minister for communications and aviation, Peter Agovaka, said the government welcomed Australia’s offer to assist the general elections. “If Australia want to assist in the elections, we have no problem with that as long as it’s not a political funding,” he said.