At Stake in this Election:        

• 17 seats in the Tonga Legislative Assembly (Fale Alea) 

Government Structure: 

• Chief of State: King TUPOU VI (since 19 March 2012) 
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Pōhiva TU’I’ONETOA (since 8 October 2019) 
• Assembly: Tonga possesses a unicameral Legislative Assembly with 26 seats 

Electoral System: 

• The head of state is a hereditary position held by King TUPOU VI, who assumed the throne following the death of his brother TUPOU V on 18 March 2012. [1]
• The Legislative Assembly (Fale Alea) is a unicameral institution consisting of 26 seats, 9 of which are indirectly elected by Tonga’s 33 noble families. [2] The remaining seats are filled by “People’s Representatives,” or parliamentarians who are directly elected from among 17 single-member constituencies using a first-past-the-post system. [3]
• Following the elections, the newly convened Legislative Assembly votes on who will assume the office of prime minister.  

Last Election: 

• The previous election was held on 16 November 2017. The Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands won 14 of the 17 contested seats. 

Main Candidates in this Election:  

• Party: Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands (DPFI / PATOA) / Paati Temokalati ʻa e ʻOtu Motu ʻAngaʻofa  
  • Leader: Semisi SIKA 
  • Seats won in last election: 14 
• Party: Tonga People’s Party (TPPI) / Paati ʻa e Kakai ʻo Tonga  
  • Leader: Pōhiva TU’I’ONETOA 
  • Seats won in last election: New 
• Party: Independents 
  • Leader: N/A 
  • Seats won in last election: 3 

Population and Registered Voters: 

• Population: 105,940 (November 2021 est.) [4]
• Registered Voters: 59,003 (2017) [5]

Gender Data: 

• Female Population: 52,875 (November 2021 est.) [6]
• Is Tonga a signatory to CEDAW: No [7]
• Has Tonga ratified CEDAW: No [8]
• Gender Quota: No [9]
• Female Candidates in this election: 12 [10]
• Number of Female Legislators: 2 out of 17 seats [11] 
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: Rank 104 at 0.725 (2020) [12]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: No data [13] 

Disability Data: 

• Is Tonga a signatory to CRPD: Yes (15 November 2007) [14] 
• Has Tonga ratified CRPD: No [15]
• Population with a disability: 15,975 (November 2021 est.) [16]

[1] https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3121/

[2] https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/455977/polls-in-tonga-open-for-2021-election

[3] http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2317_B.htm

[4] https://countrymeters.info/en/Tonga

[5] http://archive.ipu.org/parline/reports/2317.htm

[6] https://countrymeters.info/en/Tonga

[7] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en

[8] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CEDAW&Lang=en

[9] https://devpolicy.org/no-women-elected-in-tonga-time-to-change-the-story-20211119/

[10] https://devpolicy.org/no-women-elected-in-tonga-time-to-change-the-story-20211119/

[11] https://web.archive.org/web/20171116190053/https://asiapacificreport.nz/2017/11/17/tongan-democrat-landslide-delivers-numbers-for-pohiva-government/ 

[12] http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/NIC

[13] https://www.genderindex.org/country-profiles/

[14] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=176&Lang=EN

[15] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=176&Lang=EN 

[16] http://www.electionaccess.org/en/resources/countries/to/all/