Another very weird political phenomena probably unique to the islands is the John Frum Movement. If you've ever studied sociology, you may have come across the case of the cargo cults of Polynesia; and the worship of John Frum, a supposed black American WW2 soldier who will return to Vanuatu and deliver salvation is one of the more curious. They actually elected some members under the mame "john Frum" in 1998 ... then the trail goes dead (this is my original research just to be clear), but from what I can ascertain is highly connected with small traditional values party Nagrimel which is the cult of messanic religious leader Jimmy Stevens, who once collabarated with an American libertarian organisation and the government of France to carve out a libertarian tax haven in the South Pacific.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_WarBut Nagrimel and John Frum were to survive, and both would become owned by the sister of megarich (well, by Vanuatu standards anyway) Dinh Van Than, a Verinamese-Vanuatese businessman. But she was kicked out for coruption and Nagriamel is now owned by some chieftian.
(of course Frum isn't the only westerner revered by a cargo cult in the country. There is also the famous movement that worships Prince Philip, but they are less powerful politically)
