Iakoba Italeli

Iakoba Italeli
Italeli in 2015
Speaker of the Parliament of Tuvalu
Assumed office
27 February 2024
MonarchCharles III
Prime MinisterFeleti Teo
Preceded bySamuelu Teo
Governor-General of Tuvalu
In office
16 April 2010  22 August 2019
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime Minister
Preceded byKamuta Latasi
Succeeded byTeniku Talesi (acting)
Member of the Tuvaluan Parliament
for Nui
Assumed office
26 January 2024
Preceded byPuakena Boreham
In office
3 August 2006  16 September 2010
Preceded byTaom Tanukale
Succeeded byTaom Tanukale
Attorney General of Tuvalu
In office
2002–2006
Preceded byFeleti Teo
Succeeded byEselealofa Apinelu
Personal details
Born
Iakoba Taeia Italeli
Political partyIndependent
SpouseKoling Italeli Taeia
Alma materUniversity of Malta

Sir Iakoba Taeia Italeli GCMG is a Tuvaluan politician who was the governor-general of Tuvalu from 16 April 2010, until 22 August 2019, when he resigned to contest in the 2019 general election. He was not successful in that election, however he was elected as a member of parliament in the 2024 Tuvaluan general election.

He is also a former attorney general of Tuvalu who served from 2002 to 2006. He was the chancellor of the University of the South Pacific from July 2014 to June 2015.

In 2022 Italeli ran as Tuvalu's candidate to be the next Commonwealth Secretary-General. The aim was to fill the potential vacancy created if incumbent Patricia Scotland were to be prematurely disendorsed by a majority of member states, and to institute a pro-climate action agenda for the entire Commonwealth. At CHOGM 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda, Italeli withdraw after an initial straw poll the votes were ultimately spit between Jamaican candidate Kamina Johnson Smith and Lady Scotland, who was victorious and stayed on as Secretary-General.