Kiribati election: Voters await final results

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Votes are currently being counted in Kiribati.
photo: Facebook / Bwaai aika a riki ion Kiribati

First round of opinion polls Held on August 14, Twenty-five of these MPs confirmed their seats in Maneaba ni Maungatabu (Parliament).
Current President Taneti Maamau and former opposition leader Tessie Lambourne Keep the seat.
Voters selected 19 candidates In the second round on Monday.

Kiribati voters are awaiting final results from Monday’s runoff election.

In the first round of elections held last Wednesday, 25 of the 45 parliamentary seats were confirmed, with these candidates receiving more than 50% of the votes.

The remaining seats will be allocated among the candidates with the highest votes in each constituency.

Tarawa local Tulua Tinau told Radio New Zealand that the Pacific Party candidates in the current government did well in the outer island electorates in the first round of elections.

But he said the runoff for the capital seat was far more competitive.

“We can talk about the majority of the population on Tarawa, who will ultimately decide which government gets re-elected because the largest population lives on Tarawa and Betio,” he said.

“They are the ones who want the (previous) government to return.”

He said basic livelihood issues such as health, education and household income were at the focus of public debate in Kiribati ahead of Monday’s second round of voting.

Tino said that while geopolitics dominates regional politics, domestic issues such as government subsidies for copra are the most talked about topics in the polls.

“No one is mentioning China in this election. I don’t see anybody talking about China in this election. I think China is trying to distance itself from the issues that are going on,” he said.

The count is currently ongoing. Kiribati is the only country in the world (What Happened in Kiribati) Facebook group has over 68,000 members – There are still 4 polling stations yet to be counted in the South Tarawa (TUC) constituency.