Tauveve O’Love Jacobsen is a Niuean politician and diplomat. She served as Niue's High Commissioner to New Zealand from 2011 to 2017. Her predecessor was Sisilia Talagi, Niue's first female diplomat and High Commissioner. She had previously served as a member of the Niue Assembly and a minister in Toke Talagi's government. She was previously a long-standing leading figure in the informal parliamentary Opposition to Young Vivian's government. She was, from 2008 to 2011, Minister of Health, Minister of Public Works, Minister of Women's Affairs, and Minister in charge of the NiuePower Corporation. She had previously been Minister of Education, Health, Environment, Training and Development. Additionally, Jacobsen is a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and Patroness of the Niuean Volleyball Association. Following the 1999 general election, she was a candidate for the post of Premier, who is selected by the national Assembly. She lost to Sani Lakatani, of the Niue People's Party, by six votes to fourteen. Following the 2005 general election, Jacobsen was Young Vivian's only opponent contending for the position of Premier. She was defeated by three votes to seventeen. Vivian thanked her for competing against him: In February 2008, Jacobsen stated that landowners had been bullied into authorising the building of a hotel and golf course on their land, a project supported by the government and funded by Chinese investors. Premier Young Vivian rejected the allegation. In the lead-up to the 2008 general election, which saw her successfully retain her seat in the Assembly (as a common roll representative, Jacobsen was critical of the fact that several members of the Assembly would be re-elected unopposed. She accused Vivian of discouraging people from taking part in the election as Opposition candidates, and argued that a democracy requires voters being able to choose between several candidates in each constituency. Vivian rejected Jacobsen's criticism, and argued in return that candidates were chosen within the villages, in traditional ways. With such a practice, he said, "there is no conflict, there’s peace and togetherness." A government news publication stated with thinly veiled criticism that Jacobsen "saw herself as a self-appointed backbench champion of the masses". Following the election, Jacobsen supported Toke Talagi's candidacy to prime ministership, against Vivian, and was appointed to Talagi's small Cabinet. In March 2011, she resigned from government and from the Assembly to be appointed Niue's High Commissioner to New Zealand. She served in that capacity until early 2017, then stood in the Niuean general election in May, announcing her intention to lead the government as Prime Minister. She was elected to the Assembly, topping the poll in the common roll election.
