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Ruth Cross Kwansing, left, campaigns with her team.
photo: supply
An aspiring independent parliamentary candidate in Kiribati believes “inefficient government” is holding back improvements in citizens’ living standards.
Ruth Cross Guansing is one of 18 female candidates in the Kiribati national election, with 114 candidates vying for 44 parliamentary seats.
Election officials completed the counting of votes from the first round of voting on Thursday night, with Guansing, 45, making it to the second round of voting in South Tarawa (TUC), the largest constituency.
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has put forward a record 22 candidates, and Kwanzing is one of seven women running for a parliamentary seat.
She told RNZ Pacific she was the second-best candidate in the TUC electorate on Thursday night, when the counting was complete at 14 of 16 polling stations.
However, in each constituency, only the candidate who receives more than 50% of the votes will be declared the winner.
The top six candidates who failed to qualify after the first round of voting will move on to a second round of voting on Monday.
Votes are counted after the first round of voting in the Kiribati election.
photo: supply
Guansing said Kiribati needs a lot of help but is unable to implement and deliver projects with the help it receives.
“So even though people are desperate for water, (or) we have these major issues that everyone accepts and knows are urgent, we’re still working to implement the help or the programs that we need,” she said.
She said that “seeing these struggles and inefficiencies…was a turning point” and motivated her decision to run for council.
With her background in development and experience in intergovernmental organizations and working on water and climate finance projects, being in Parliament means she can increase her impact.
“I did a lot of humanitarian work and applied for a lot of grants, which was hard. I knew that at the government level you could do much bigger projects than what I did at the NGO level,” she said.
“It’s about improving inefficiencies in government, avoiding bottlenecks in international programs and international aid, and then expanding the work I’m already doing.”
At right is Ruth Cross Kwansing and her husband.
photo: supply
Guan Xing’s vision for her constituency is health, peace and prosperity.
“You need to have health first, peace, then prosperity, and if you have all of those in that order, then you’ll have a pretty good or comfortable life.”
If she becomes a councillor, she hopes to focus on and improve the health, education and business sectors, among other issues that align with her vision.
“It’s 2024 and we’re still struggling to get clean water. There are still people lining up with buckets to get water. So this is about addressing the urgency of the problem.
“We still have challenges with our power and health systems. We have to address the fundamental issues that are still big problems.”
Kwansing also wants to focus on how to help people become more self-reliant and create better income opportunities for themselves.
“That way they can thrive in a sustainable way without having to rely so heavily on government aid or foreign assistance for future security.”
Ruth Cross Kwansing with her family and supporters.
photo: supply
Counting votes
Election counting in the Micronesian nation of Kiribati was done manually in the presence of election councillors, candidate representatives and police.
Guan Xin said she arranged three people to monitor the count to ensure that the counting was carried out properly.
“Our vote counters also worked with the councillors to accurately count the votes,” she said.
“If there is a discrepancy between what the councillor wrote and what the representative wrote, then they will recount the votes until they are satisfied that it is accurate and there is nothing suspicious.”
She said the counting of votes after the first round of voting took longer than expected because some candidates had requested a recount.
“It’s a labor-intensive and manual job, but no one will be unhappy or dissatisfied with the end result.”
Kiribati 2024 election vote counting. August 15, 20204
photo: Facebook / Tulua Kiki Timau
Kiribati has only two political parties – the ruling Tobuwan Kiribati Party (TKP) and the opposition Butokaan Kiribati Party (BKM).
The others are independents and do not belong to any political party.
“Kiribati is a little different from other places in that our political parties are not differentiated by main ideology or anything like that.
“It just seems to be grouping people based on personality and opinion differences rather than ideology.”
She added that as an independent candidate with “the interests of the electorate at heart”, she had to “make sure I join the party that is in power”.
A second round of voting is scheduled for Monday, with all eligible voters casting their ballots again.
The final results are expected to be announced the next morning.
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