| Parliament name |
Parliament |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
19 June 2010 |
| Timing and scope of renewal |
Elections were held for all the seats in the Parliament following its early dissolution on 11 June 2010. The elections had previously taken place on 24 April 2010. |
The world's smallest republic (covering just 21 square kilometres) held another snap poll in June 2010, less than two months since the previous early elections in April.
The April 2010 elections were held in an attempt to resolve a standoff between government members of parliament supporting President Marcus Stephen and opposition members who included the former Speaker, Finance and Foreign Minister, Mr. David Adeang. Both groups had held nine seats in the 18-member Parliament. The April elections returned exactly the same 18 members, resulting in yet another political stalemate.
The newly elected Parliament held its first session on 27 April but failed to elect a new Speaker. After lengthy negotiations, an opposition member, Mr. Godfrey Thoma, agreed to accept the post, in the context of a move to raise the statutory number of seats to 19 with the Speaker becoming a non-elected member (see note 1). Upon assuming the post on 13 May, Speaker Thoma announced that he would resign before the next sitting unless the government formed a coalition with the opposition or advised him to dissolve Parliament with a view to holding fresh elections. He duly resigned as Speaker on 18 May, returning the country to political deadlock.
Government MP, Mr. Dominic Tabuna was elected as Speaker on 1 June, and he too resigned only three days later, citing "recent developments in Parliament".
Under the current Constitution, whenever the post of Speaker is vacant, Parliament cannot transact any business other than the election of Speaker (see note 2). The country, which had a budget running only to June, was once again left without a functioning Parliament to pass the new budget.
After subsequent parliamentary sittings failed to elect a new Speaker, Acting President Stephen declared a state of emergency on 11 June, so that he could obtain a supplementary appropriation even in the absence of a functioning Parliament. On the same day, he dissolved Parliament with a view to fresh elections being held on 19 June. The state of emergency was to last for up to 21 days (1 July) or until the country's new President was elected by the newly elected Parliament, whichever occurred first.
The opposition, now led by Mr. Baron Waqa, argued that the state of emergency was a threat to human rights such as freedom of expression and the rights of assembly and association. It criticized the short duration of the campaign period, which it said would not allow new candidates to run.
All 18 members in the outgoing legislature ran in the June elections. The media focused on a leading candidate in Aiwo constituency, Mr. Milton Dube, who had never served in Parliament. He campaigned on local issues, pledging to deal with environmental concerns relating to the phosphate industry. The amount of phosphate dust from the 100-year-old phosphate drying plant became the main campaign issue. Acting President Stephen promised to relocate the plant to a remote part of the island. The Environment Minister, Mr. Frederick Pitcher, said that the government had been assessing new technology that is designed to reduce dust emissions during the phosphate drying process. Mr. Dube said he would support the side that committed itself to the interests of his Aiwo constituency.
Voting being compulsory in Nauru, turnout has been traditionally high. In June, 92.69 per cent of the 5,700 voters turned out at the polls.
All nine pro-government members were re-elected, while an opposition member, Mr. Dantes Tsitsi, lost his seat to Mr. Dube, the sole new member in the new legislature. Once again, no women were elected to Parliament.
Acting President Stephen urged Mr. Dube to join the government so as to resolve the political deadlock but the latter did not declare his allegiance before the first session.
On 22 June, the newly elected Parliament held its first session. Mr. Aloysius Amwano, an opposition member, subsequently accepted to become new Speaker but demanded the resignation of Acting President Stephen. Mr. Stephen said he would stand down, as long as the new leader came from within his group of supporters. On 2 July, Mr. Amwano was elected new Speaker.
On 6 July, Mr. Mathew Batsiua, a pro-government member, put the motion to elect a President to Parliament. He announced that the government had a required majority to govern after an opposition member, Mr. Rykers Solomon, had joined the government side. However, Speaker Amwano refused to let the motion proceed, returning the country to a political stalemate.
President Stephen subsequently dismissed Speaker Amwano by emergency order. Mr. Landon Deireragea became Acting Speaker.
On 11 October, opposition members led by Mr. Waqa initiated court action on the grounds that the Acting President acted unconstitutionally when he dismissed the Speaker and declared a state of emergency in June. On 20 October, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the government on all accounts.
Mr. Ludwig Scotty subsequently accepted a nomination to be Speaker, giving a parliamentary majority to the government. On 1 November, he was unanimously elected to the post. On the same day, Mr. Stephen was re-elected President, defeating Mr. Dube by an 11-6 vote, ending the political deadlock. His first action was to lift the state of emergency.
Note 1:
For these amendments to be implemented, two bills need to be introduced in Parliament: one ordinary act to increase the statutory number of members and another to amend the Constitution of Nauru (Parliamentary Amendments) Act 2009, which includes provisions to make the Speaker a non-elected member. The latter has to be before Parliament for at least 90 days before being adopted.
Note 2:
Article 34.-(1.) says "Parliament shall, before it proceeds to the despatch of any other business, elect one of its members to be Speaker and, whenever the office of Speaker is vacant, shall not transact any business other than the election of one of its members to fill that office". After the election of the Speaker, Parliament will have to elect the Deputy Speaker, the committee chairmen and the country's president before any other business can be transacted. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 19 June 2010 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
5'704
5'287 (92.69%)
107
5'180 |
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Notes
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| Distribution of votes |
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Round no 1
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| Political group |
Candidates |
Votes |
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% of votes |
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| Distribution of seats |
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Round no 1
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| Political Group |
Total of seats
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| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
18
0
0.00%
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| Distribution of seats according to age |
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| Distribution of seats according to profession |
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| Comments |
| Parliament (21.06.2010, 31.08.2010) |
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