The party was established by
Harry Iauko after he left the
Vanua'aku Pati prior to the
2012 general elections. The party nominated six candidates, winning three of the 52 seats in
Parliament;
Tony Nari in
Pentecost,
Hosea Nevu in
Santo and Iauko in
Tanna. Iauko died in December 2012, but the
subsequent by-election was won by his son
Pascal Iauko. In October 2013, the Iauko Group, under the leadership of
Tony Nari, supported the Vanua'aku Pati, and joined Prime Minister Carcasses' parliamentary majority.
Rural Development Party On 11 December 2014, two years after the death of founder
Harry Iauko, the Iauko Group was also known as the
Rural Development Party (RDP). MPs in 2015 that associated with RDP included: Tony Ngari (party leader), Hosea Nevu, Thomas Laken. John Amos, Jonas James, and Pascal Iauko. MPs Samsen Samson and Havo Moli have also declared affiliations with RDP. The party supported the governments of
Sato Kilman winning four seats; Nevu was re-elected in Santo,
Marc Ati was elected in
Luganville,
Jay Ngwele in
Ambae and
Kalo Pakoa Songi Lano in
Tongoa. In 2017, RDP members signed a solidarity pact with the
Leaders Party of Vanuatu (LPV) in front of
Prime Minister Charlot Salwai, reaffirming support for the coalition government. Members at that time included MP Jay Ngwele, Tom Nouam and Kalo Pakoa. They also supported the
Vanua'aku Pati (VP) in 2018. According to the
World Factbook IG and RDP were listed as the same party IG from 2016 to 2019.
Split from RDP In 2020, the RDP and IG ran their own candidates for the
2020 Vanuatuan general election. In 18 October 2022, following the
2022 Vanuatuan general election, which was a
snap election, it was reported that RDP, IG, VP, and
National United Party (NUP) were not included in the signing of the pact for the new government formation. == Election results ==