Surprising early results in Vanuatu election

Early results for Friday's election in Vanuatu indicate that some veteran politicians have been voted out of office.

Unofficial results for the smaller constituencies were the first to come in last night, and suggest there will be plenty of new faces in parliament.

Jamie Tahana reports from Port Vila.

Polls closed at 4:30pm local time yesterday, and counting began around the country soon after.

The snap election was called after the President dissolved parliament last month following the conviction of 15 MPs for corruption.

The first unofficial results that began to trickle in late last night suggest there will be a large turnover.

In Maewo, the former speaker of parliament, Phillip Boedoro lost his seat to shipping magnate Ian Wilson, who received almost double Mr Boedoro's votes.

And in Epi, former Justice Minister Robert Bohn -- who was acquitted in the trial that saw 14 of his government colleagues jailed -- was convincingly voted out of office.

The last results will be the large constituencies of Port Vila, Efate, Tafea, and Santo, with big changes also predicted in those areas.