Former Solomon Islands prime minister Allan Kemakeza has left jail vowing a return to politics at the country's next election.
But if the Solomons Court of Appeal dismisses the sentence he just served, Kemakeza could be back sooner.
Kemakeza lost his job as forests minister in September last year when a High Court appeal failed to clear charges dating back to 2002, when he was then prime minister.
He was sentenced to six months jail for organising a violent car theft at law firm, Sol-Law Services, in attempts to scare Australian lawyers.
He served four months of the sentence and told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday that a return to politics was guaranteed.
"In 2010 certainly I'm going to contest in my constituency, in the meantime, I'm not sure, I leave that to my lawyers to deal with," he said.
Years of civil unrest in the South Pacific island nation resulted in the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) deployment in 2003.
Leniency in sentencing was shown towards Kemakeza as he was one of the country's key backers of RAMSI's deployment.
In 2008 three Solomons MPs lost their seats after being sent to jail: Kemakeza; former Central Guadalcanal MP Peter Shanel and former East Honiara MP Charles Dausabea.
