Martin Sopage, whose name is also commonly spelt Martin Sopaghe, (born May 1966 in Komuvaolu Village, Guadalcanal Province

Guadalcanal Province

Guadalcanal Province is one of the provinces of the Solomon Islands, consisting of the island of Guadalcanal. It is a 2,510 square mile island and is largely a jungle. Its name was given by Pedro de Ortega Valencia, born in the village of Guadalcanal in Seville, Spain...

) is a Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

 politician.

After a primary school education, he went into private business. His career in national politics began when he was elected to the National Parliament as MP

8th Parliament of Solomon Islands

The 8th Parliament of Solomon Islands, determined by the 2006 general election, was the National Parliament of Solomon Islands from 2006 to 2010...

 for the North Guadalcanal constituency

Constituencies in Solomon Islands

There are 50 constituencies in Solomon Islands, each electing one Member of Parliament to the National Parliament. Elections are held every four years; the most recent took place on April 5, 2006...

 in the general election on April 5, 2006

Solomon Islands general election, 2006

General elections were held on 5 April 2006 in the Solomon Islands. No party managed to win more than four of the fifty seats, while thirty seats went to independent candidates. A number of those subsequently formed an Association of Independent Members of Parliament, with Snyder Rini as their leader...

. He was elected as an Independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

. In November 2007, several ministers defected from Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare

Manasseh Sogavare

Manasseh Damukana Sogavare was the sixth Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2006 to 2007. He has served in the National Parliament as Member for East Choiseul since 1997, and he is currently the Leader of the Opposition.-Biography:Sogavare was Permanent...

's government in an attempt to bring down the government, and Sogavare appointed Sopage as Minister for Infrastructure and Development on November 12. Nevertheless, Sogavare was ousted in a motion of no confidence

Motion of no confidence

A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...

 on December 20, ending Sopage's brief participation in Cabinet. Sopage retained his seat in the general election on August 4, 2010

Solomon Islands general election, 2010

A general election was held in the Solomon Islands on 4 August 2010. In May 2010, Prime Minister Derek Sikua announced that the election would be held on 4 August, however, this announcement was deemed to be premature, as only the Governor General has the authority to announce the election date...

, having stood again as an Independent, unaffiliated to any political party. He was appointed Minister for Lands, Housing and Survey in Prime Minister Danny Philip

Danny Philip

Danny Philip is a politician and diplomat from the Solomon Islands. He is the current Prime Minister, who came into office after the 2010 general election. He served as foreign minister from 1995 to 1996 and from July 2000 to June 2001...

's coalition Cabinet.

On January 20, 2011, he and three other ministers left the government and joined Steve Abana

Steve Abana

Steve William Abana is a Solomon Islands politician. He is currently Member of Parliament for Fataleka, and was the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition from August 2010 to March 2011....

's official Opposition

Shadow Cabinet of Solomon Islands

The Shadow Cabinet of Solomon Islands is the parliamentary Opposition's alternative Cabinet in Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands is a Commonwealth realm with a Westminster system of government; the Shadow Cabinet is modelled on the British institution of the same name.The Opposition is formally...

, citing dissatisfaction with the Cabinet being "manipulated by one or two people". On January 31, he returned to the government and resumed his Cabinet post. On February 8, he defected anew to the Opposition, then re-defected to the government with several other defectors on February 17, and resumed his post as Minister for Lands, Housing and Survey.

On April 18, Philip removed him from Cabinet in a reshuffle to make way for five Opposition members who had just joined the government ranks. Sopage was succeeded by Joseph Onika

Joseph Onika

Joseph Onika is a Solomon Islands politician.He worked in catering before going into politics. His career in national politics began when he was elected to Parliament as the member for East Central Guadalcanal in the August 2010 general election, standing as an independent candidate...

.

In early November, Sopage, along with several other former ministers who had lost their positions in that reshuffle, switched over to the Opposition again, and this time succeeded in bringing down the Philip government.

Summary of membership during the Ninth Parliament (2010- )

As of November 2011, Sopage has crossed the floor between the government and the opposition five times:

• Aug. 2010-Jan. 2011: government (frontbencher)
• Jan. 2011: opposition (for eleven days)
• Jan. 2011-Feb. 2011: government (frontbencher)
• Feb. 2011: opposition (for eleven days)
• Feb. 2011-Nov. 2011: government (frontbencher until April, then backbencher)
• Nov. 2011: opposition (helps bring down the government)