 His father, despite having been a highly controversial figure, convicted in 2011 for aiding and abetting intentional assault (having supervised the beating up of a journalist who had criticised him), had remained popular on Tanna, where there remained a strong tradition of handing on leadership positions to family members of deceased leaders.Pascal Iauko, at the age of just 27, was elected in a landslide victory, with the largest vote tally in the country's history.He secured 4,017 votes, a record, corresponding to 32% of the vote, with a record lead of 1,341 votes (10.7%) over his closest opponent, and joined the Opposition benches.