At the time of the elections, Walter Lini of the Vanua'aku Pati had been prime minister for eleven years and the country's only leader since independence in 1980.

Several months before the elections, he was replaced by Donald Kalpokas as leader of the Vanua'aku Pati, and formed his own National United Party.

The Union of Moderate Parties obtained 19 seats, the same number as during the previous election, but this time these were sufficient to place it in the lead.

The Vanua'aku Pati and the National United Party obtained ten seats each, marking the VP's first electoral defeat.

[2] The result was significant, as Vanuatu's previous post-independence governments had been oriented towards the Anglophone population.