Pelenike Isaia

Who is Pelenike Isaia?

Pelenike Tekinene Isaia is a Tuvaluan politician.

She worked initially for the Tuvalu Cooperative Society, as its branch manager in Nui.

Her career in national politics began when she won the August 2011 by-election for the constituency of Nui, and thus entered Parliament. The by-election had been caused by the death of her husband, the incumbent MP and Minister for Works Isaia Italeli. Pelenike Isaia stated she would aim to continue his work, and she was the candidate endorsed by Prime Minister Willy Telavi's government. Italeli's death had deprived the Telavi government of its one seat majority in Parliament, and when Pelenike Isaia won the by-election, defeating the only other candidate by a sixty-two vote majority, her victory secured parliamentary support for Telavi. She was appointed Minister for Home Affairs.

She is only the second woman ever to have sat in Tuvalu's Parliament, following Naama Maheu Latasi, who was an MP for Nanumea from 1989 to 1997. Isaia's election put an end to Tuvalu being one of the few countries in the world having no female parliamentarians - although the Tuvaluan national Parliament admittedly consists in only fifteen members.