# 2025 general election (20 November 2025)

URL: https://allhistories.com/tonga/timeline/2025-2025-general-election
Location: Nukuʻalofa, Tongatapu, Tonga
Themes: main-event

Tonga held a general election on 20 November 2025 for all 26 elected seats. Seventeen independents won people's seats, up four, and the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands won none, for the first time since its founding. Nine nobles' representatives were elected. Turnout was 49.87 percent of 64,707 registered voters, down from 62 percent in 2021. The elections supervisor attributed the low turnout largely to many voters being outside Tonga on election day. Only eight women contested the election, the lowest number since 2010, and only one, Fane Fotu Fituafe, was elected. Rival Democratic Party factions led by Sēmisi Sika and Siaosi Pōhiva split the opposition vote, and both leaders lost their seats. In September 2025 the king approved an amendment removing the nobles' exemption from pre-election legal clearance. Petitions were filed against eight MPs, and in 2026 the Supreme Court found three cabinet members guilty of election bribery or breaches. The vote left the Assembly without any party and set the stage for the premiership contest of 15 December. At this point in the timeline (2025), King of Tonga Tupou VI (18 March 2012 – present) reigned as head of state of Tonga; Prime Minister 'Aisake Eke (22 January 2025 – 18 December 2025) led the government.

## Why it matters
The election left no organised party in the Assembly and showed declining engagement, with many Tongans abroad unable to vote.

Ruler at the Time: [Tupou VI](https://allhistories.com/tonga/rulers/tupou-vi-20)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 2025 Tongan general election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Tongan_general_election)
- [Wikipedia — Politics of Tonga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Tonga)