The number of registered political parties in Vanuatu has dropped to 19, despite one new party recently joining the list ahead of the upcoming provincial and municipal elections on July 8.

Principal Electoral Officer Guilain Malessas confirmed the reduction, stating that the decline follows the deregistration of several parties that did not meet electoral thresholds.

“I registered 25 political parties at the start, and 24 contested in the last election. After an assessment of the threshold set by the Electoral Commission, seven parties did not meet the criteria and were deregistered,” Malessas said.

He added that the newly registered Liberal Democratic Party will also take part in the elections.

Only the 19 officially registered parties, along with independent candidates and recognized custom movements, were eligible to field candidates in next week’s elections.