Baldwin Lonsdale

Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale (5 August 1948 – 17 June 2017)[1] was a Vanuatuan politician and Anglican priest who served as President of Vanuatu from 22 September 2014 until his death in 2017.[2]

Baldwin Lonsdale
President of Vanuatu
In office 22 September 2014 – 17 June 2017
Prime Minister	Joe Natuman Sato Kilman Charlot Salwai
Preceded by	Philip Boedoro (Acting)
Succeeded by	Esmon Saimon (Acting)
Personal details
Born	Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale 5 August 1948 Mota Lava, Vanuatu
Died	17 June 2017 (aged 68) Port Vila, Vanuatu
Political party	Independent

Early life and career

Lonsdale was born on Mota Lava, in the Banks Islands, in 1948.[3] Before becoming president, Lonsdale was a civil servant who served as the secretary general of the province of Torba on the island of Mota Lava. He later became an Anglican priest.[4]

Lonsdale was occasionally referred to as Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale.[5] The title of Womtelo (literally “Rising Sun”) is the highest rank within the customary system of chiefly grades of his native island Mota Lava.[6]

2014 election

Lonsdale was elected president in an indirect election by an electoral college consisting of members of parliament and provincial governors. The vote took eight rounds; the longest ballot in the country's history. In the last vote, Lonsdale received 46 votes of 58 possible satisfying the two-thirds majority requirement.[7] The speaker of Vanuatu's parliament, Philip Boedoro, served as interim president during the voting.[8]

Lonsdale was the second Anglican priest to be elected president of Vanuatu.[4]

Presidency

In his first speech as president, Lonsdale stressed the importance of the appointment for the province of Torba, promised to uphold the constitution, and asked the people of Vanuatu to stand united.[9]

Baldwin Lonsdale (second from left) at the 2015 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu

In March 2015, Lonsdale, who was attending the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, appealed for international assistance in the aftermath of Cyclone Pam.[10]

In October 2015, while Lonsdale was abroad, Speaker of Parliament Marcellino Pipite used his position as Acting President to issue a 'presidential pardon' to himself and 13 other MPs who had just been convicted of bribery and were awaiting sentence. Returning to Vanuatu only hours after the pardon was issued, Lonsdale expressed his sorrow at what had happened and gave a widely welcomed speech declaring that nobody is above the law and that "I will clean the dirt from my backyard".[11] After consulting with legal experts and other leaders, Lonsdale revoked the pardon, citing the articles in the Vanuatu constitution which oblige leaders to avoid conflicts of interest and avoid bringing their integrity into question.[12][13] Lonsdale's decision was upheld by the Vanuatu Supreme Court.[14]

Death

Lonsdale died on 17 June 2017 in Port Vila of a heart attack at the age of 68.[15][16][17]

References

1. "Index Lo-Ly". www.rulers.org. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
2. "Vanuatu loses its Head of State, President Baldwin Lonsdale". YTS Online News. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
3. "Vanuatu in mourning after president's sudden death". Radio New Zealand. 17 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
4. "Vanuatu profile - Leaders". BBC. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
5. "President of Vanuatu Baldwin Lonsdale dies aged 67". SBS. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
6. See p.234-235 of François, Alexandre (2013), "Shadows of bygone lives: The histories of spiritual words in northern Vanuatu", in Mailhammer, Robert (ed.), Lexical and structural etymology: Beyond word histories, Studies in Language Change, 11, Berlin: DeGruyter Mouton, pp. 185–244, ISBN 978-1-61451-058-1.
7. "Baldwin Lonsdale sworn in as Vanuatu's new president - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
8. "Vanuatu speaker becomes acting president". Radio New Zealand International. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
9. "Vanuatu elects new president". Radio New Zealand International. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
10. Elizabeth Chuck (March 15, 2015). "'Disaster' in Vanuatu After Cyclone Pam Tears Through Pacific Archipelago". NBC News. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
11. "Vanuatu president vows to 'stop crooked ways' after MPs pardoned". 12 October 2015.
12. Holmes, Oliver (16 October 2015). "Vanuatu president revokes pardons passed by maverick speaker".
13. "Vanuatu pardons revoked". 15 October 2015.
14. "Vanuatu judge says MPs' pardons invalid". 21 October 2015.
15. "Baldwin Lonsdale, President of Vanuatu, dies". Radio NZ. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
16. "Vanuatu president Baldwin Lonsdale dies after heart attack". BBC. 17 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
17. "Vanuatu President Baldwin- Lonsdale dies". Stuff (Fairfax Media). 17 June 2017.