Transcript
At 10 o'clock on Friday morning, the gates of a prison in Port Vila swung open, and out walked former prime minister, Serge Vohor, and a former MP, Steven Kalsakau.
A journalist in Port Vila, Evelyne Toa, says the men emerged to be greeted by a small crowd.
"There were a few family members waiting outside the entrance of the prison, a few supporters and members of their political parties [and] they walked out escorted by the current leader of the opposition."
Ms Toa says Mr Vohor and Mr Kalsakau only spoke briefly before being whisked off to meet supporters, and then hit up a kava bar.
The pair are the first of 14 MPs who were jailed for their part in a bribery ring in 2015 to be granted parole.
The conviction and jailing of half the then-government marked a spectacular few months in Vanuatu, one which sparked a political crisis that saw the president dissolve parliament and call a snap election.
18 months on, most of the MPs have served half their sentences, and the parole board has received applications from 11 others seeking parole, which will be assessed in the near future.
Another former prime minister, Moana Carcasses, who was found to be the leader of the bribery ring, will be eligible in October.
But Ms Toa says there are mixed feelings around the capital about whether the former MPs should be released early.
The chair of Vanuatu Women Against Crime and Corruption, Jenny Ligo, says she personally feels justice has been served.
"Vanuatu has seen justice done. The 14 MPs have served their time, they have learned their lessons, they have gone through a lot of crisis. In this case, justice has been done."
Jenny Ligo says while they may be released, the politicians still have to abide by the conditions of their parole, and they are prohibited from standing for public office until 2025.
Their saga is far from over, too, as the public prosecutor is still weighing whether to appeal against a court's decision this month to drop their convictions for conspiracy.
At the time of the snap election in January 2016, which saw a new coalition government formed, there was optimism that the episode would have started a new, cleaner, chapter in Vanuatu politics.
But Ms Ligo says while lessons have been learned, corruption still permeates many layers of public life.
"I'm looking at a big picture. The cultural environment, to me, has not changed much. While they were in prison there were some doing it outside. There are many others, we want to see people prosecuted."
Jenny Ligo says a lot more work needs to be done to increase transparency and stamp out corruption in Vanuatu.
