Lusibaea lost his seat on 30 November 2010 upon being sentenced to two years and nine months in gaol for assault and grievous bodily harm, for events committed during the unrest.
[4] On 17 October, the High Court ruled that the remit did not amount to a court-sanctioned reduction in sentence, and Lusibaea lost his seat once more, necessitating a by-election.
This was also affecting the scheduled by-election in East ꞌAreꞌare, in which MP Andrew Hanaria had lost his seat upon having been found to have bribed voters, but was seeking to stand for reelection.
[10][11] Vika Lusibaea won the seat by a large margin, becoming only the second ever woman to be elected to the National Parliament of Solomon Islands, following Hilda Kari in the 1990s.
There was some slight controversy over her victory, critics drawing attention to the fact she was a Fiji-born naturalized citizen, and to her "limited literacy skills".