Residents line up to vote amid political instability and buildings and infrastructure shattered by last month’s earthquake

Polls have all but closed in Vanuatu's snap election, which is remarkably going ahead despite the turbulence wrought by a severe earthquake one month ago. The south Pacific nation voted to elect a fresh parliament on Thursday,

A month after the December 17 earthquake struck and killed 14 people, voters are heading to the polls with the memories of recent aftershocks fresh in their minds.

Voters in Pacific nation Vanuatu cast ballots Thursday in a snap general election, a contest widely dismissed as a "distraction" while citizens rebuild from last month's deadly tremor.

The snap election was called last November when the opposition tried to oust the government with a motion of no confidence, and President Nikenike Vurobaravu dissolved the parliament on the request of ministers. A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Port Vila on Dec. 17, 2024, leaving at least 14 people dead and more than 200 injured.

Vanuatu’s self-sabotaging political class has left the country struggling to deal with social and economic shocks of recent natural disasters.