The control of the Solomon Islands government is steady again – for now – after its new Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele survived a recent attempted no-confidence motion in the national parliament to retain his leadership.

Mr Manele's standing has been hurt by policy flops, allegations of unfair tax exemptions, and his government's handling of revenue from the mining sector.

The motion of no confidence was withdrawn and the Ownership, Unity and Responsibility (OUR) Party avoided heading to the polls after former Prime Minister Gordon Lilo could not gather the numbers to move the motion forward and sustain the challenge.

Mr Lilo, chairman of the public accounts committee, told parliament during its last sitting week for the year: "Open all the windows of this chamber and then throw this motion out."

Speaker of the house Patterson Oti clarified the procedures at the start of the day, stating the motion was set down on the order paper, introduced four days after Mr Lilo moved it the previous week.

Mr Lilo initially requested a deferral of the motion, citing procedural concerns and referencing a previous case in parliament, which affirmed that the mover of a motion has the right to control its timing.

The former PM, who holds the seat of Central Honiara for Solomon Islands Party for Rural Development, wanted the motion to be heard prior to the minority government's attempts to discuss its budget plans for recurrent expenditure.

However, the speaker of the house reinforced that parliamentary proceedings must follow the parliament's established rules, and there was no provision in standing orders for deferring a motion without unanimous support.

After parliament was briefly suspended to seek further clarification on the matter, Mr Lilo had an about-face and announced he was withdrawing the motion, later acknowledging that he did not have sufficient numbers during the sitting of the house to oust Prime Minister Manele.

Parliament resumed normal proceedings as scheduled with no further debate on the motion.

The withdrawal of the motion marks the end of the latest phase of political manoeuvring, with Prime Minister Manele set to hold office after taking on the post in May of 2024.