Tonga’s Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni abruptly resigned in parliament on Monday ahead of a planned no-confidence vote in his leadership, capping a period of fraught relations between his government and Tonga’s king.

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Siaosi Sovaleni told parliament he would quit just moments before lawmakers decided his future in a vote of no confidence. The prime minister is stepping down in the wake of a power struggle with the royal family.