Abbil has also held a number of positions within the private sector, including as chairman of Air Vanuatu. In 2009 Mr. Iolu Abbil was elected by the Vanuatu Electoral College made up of Members of Parliaments and Presidents of Local Provinces to become the Head of State of the republic of Vanuatu. President Abbil at that time was voted in with a vote of 41 out of 57 votes. Abil was elected President by Vanuatu’s 58-member electoral college on 2 September 2009. Abil was elected on the electoral college's third round of voting in two days. No candidate had garnered the required two-thirds of the vote in electoral college in previous two rounds of voting. Several members of parliament within Prime Minister Edward Natapei's governing coalition had supported former President Kalkot Mataskelekele in the first two rounds of the election. Mataskelekele's five-year term as President had ended on 16 August 2009, and he had been renominated for a second term. However, all members of Natapei coalition had unanimously agreed to support Abil in the third round on 2 September 2009. Abil defeated six other candidates who had been nominated for president in the electoral college's third round. With the support of Prime Minister Natapei, he secured 41 votes within the 58-member electoral college, which won the presidency of Vanuatu. He was sworn in as President of Vanuatu on the evening of 2 September 2009.