Kiribati elections 2024 – what we know

Kiribati flag
photo: 123 RF

The people of Kiribati will go to the polls on Wednesday for the first round of voting.

Voting is expected to open at 7am NZ time.

The Kiribati Electoral Commission is responsible for conducting elections with the support of the Ministries of Culture and Internal Affairs.

There is little information about the election online, and most official election information is available through the Ministry of Culture. Facebook Page In late July, the list of candidates was announced.

There are 114 candidates – One less than the last election – Participated in the first round of voting, with the second round to be held next Monday.

Each party will then nominate its own presidential candidate, one of whom may be Standard TentHe has held the post of President Beretitenti for the past eight years.

“We will announce the provisional results on local Kiribati radio after the first round of voting (Wednesday evening),” said André van der Walt, New Zealand’s high commissioner to Tarawa.

“We expect the counting of votes in larger constituencies such as South Tarawa to be completed only on Thursday morning.

“The second round of voting will take place on Monday, August 19, with the results announced on local radio that evening. We expect the final results to be announced on Tuesday, August 20.”

The popular vote in Bereti Tengni is expected to take place in September or October.

have There are 18 women participating in this competitionIn comparison, there are only seven female candidates in 2020.

They include 10 women from the densely populated South Tarawa district, three of whom are lawyers.

this A lowland country in Micronesia with a population of about 120,000 It is one of the regions most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise.

This will be the first time Kiribati In September 2019, the country reestablished diplomatic relations with Taiwan and turned to China.

RNZ Pacific’s Kiribati correspondent Rimon Rimon said: Some major issues These factors will affect voters in this election, such as soaring prices and the government’s difficulty in paying its bills.

Rimon said kava has been a campaign commodity for candidates on the campaign trail.
photo: RNZ / Jamie Tahana

The Cava is flowing

Rimon said the months-long campaign “has gotten more intense,” adding that “incumbent candidates seeking re-election have really started to move.”

He said some political party members also used kava as a campaign tool in the hope of winning votes.

“Many people said they saw some candidates distributing kava, a popular commodity here, even though the distribution of the item has been stopped under the law.

“We see a lot of this. People are handing out kava, not candidates, but some people know that the person handing out kava belongs to a candidate or is a supporter of that candidate.

“Kava has become a commodity that candidates use to get people to sit down and discuss ideas that they want to share.”

He added that the campaign would “continue until the very end” because “any last-minute effort would be very useful.”

One of the bigger issues facing whichever government comes to power is the cost of the copra subsidy, which international financial institutions consider too high, and the monthly unemployment benefits.

They will also find that the outgoing government sacked five foreign judges on trumped-up grounds and overhauled the judicial system, leaving the country without a high court for months and with a huge backlog of cases.

Kiribati’s ties with China are also becoming increasingly close, and it is reported that Chinese police are now patrolling parts of Kiribati.

Taneti Mamao, President of Kiribati.
photo: AFP

‘Pretty harsh’

According to Rimon, many citizens want “something new” because the Mahmud government has “taken a pretty hard line in making many policies and decisions.”

“Some of their policies are pretty harsh, especially on the media and all the news information. I hear a lot of people saying we should do some new measures,” he said.

But of course the other half of the population, or the people I spoke to, especially in South Tarawa, are very happy with the performance of the government and would like to see it for another four years.”

Pacific political observers say competition between Australia, the United States and China in the region is growing.

“Each Pacific island nation is trying to navigate these waters in their own unique way and trying to maximize their use of them,” said Blake Johnson, Pacific analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Tell Pacific Radio New Zealand.

“Kiribati seems to be doing things a little differently than other countries in terms of transparency.”