Parliament of Nauru

The Parliament of Nauru has 19 members, elected for a three-year term in multi-seat constituencies. The President of Nauru is elected by the members of the Parliament.^[1] The number of seats was increased to 19 following elections in 2013.^[2]

Parliament of Nauru
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	31 January 1968; 56 years ago (1968-01-31)
Leadership
Speaker	Marcus Stephen, Non-partisan since 27 August 2019
Deputy Speaker	Lionel Aingimea, Non-partisan since 28 September 2022
Structure
Seats	19
Political groups	Government   Nauru First (5)   Non-partisan (9) Opposition   Non-partisan (5)
Elections
Voting system	Dowdall system
Last election	24 September 2022
Next election	2025
Meeting place
Parliament Building, Yaren
Website
naurugov.nr/parliament-of-nauru
Footnotes
* all candidates for Parliament officially stand as independents.

The members of the Parliament of Nauru are elected by a positional voting system.^[1]

History

The Parliament of Nauru came into existence with the country's independence on 31 January 1968. The island was previously a United Nations Trust Territory administered by Australia. The Australian government's Nauru Act 1965 created the Legislative Council for the Territory of Nauru, consisting of 15 members – nine elected members, one ex officio member (the Administrator of Nauru), and five "official members" nominated by the Administrator.^[3]

On 22 March 2010, Radio New Zealand International reported that President Marcus Stephen had dissolved Parliament in readiness for elections on 24 April 2010. The election saw all 18 MPs returned,^[4] but by this stage, nine of them had formed the Opposition, resulting in a deadlocked Parliament. Another election was held in June 2010, as a result of the continuing deadlock. After weeks of uncertainty, the deadlock was resolved when the Opposition agreed to have one of its own MPs, Ludwig Scotty, elected as Speaker. President Stephen then suggested that the number of MPs should be expanded to 19, to prevent future deadlocks.^[5] In late 2012, Parliament, under the leadership of President Dabwido, acted on this suggestion and passed a law increasing the number of seats to 19 after election in 2013, it is expected to prevent future deadlocks like the one in 2010.^[2]

Current MPs

Constituency	Member	Faction	Points	#1 Votes
Aiwo	Rennier Gadabu	Opposition	399.956	248 / 798
	Delvin Thoma	Opposition	350.155	183 / 798
Anabar	Maverick Eoe	Government	382.747	245 / 658
	Pyon Deiye	Opposition	439.653	300 / 658
Anetan	Timothy Ika	Opposition	667.667	483 / 898
	Marcus Stephen	Speaker	531.017	298 / 898
Boe	Martin Hunt	Opposition	576.683	318 / 1,042
	Asterio Appi	Government	585.150	396 / 1,042
Buada	Shadlog Bernicke	Government	233.197	166 / 509
	Bingham Agir	Opposition	263.833	205 / 509
Meneng	Lionel Aingimea	Government	643.612	442 / 1,339
	Khyde Menke	Opposition	530.630	232 / 1,339
	Jesse Jeremiah	Government	450.515	223 / 1,339
Ubenide	David Adeang	Government	554.938	254 / 1,566
	Russ Kun	Government	592.124	275 / 1,566
	Reagan Aliklik	Government	409.732	249 / 1,566
	Wawani Dowiyogo	Opposition	515.666	231 / 854
Yaren	Charmaine Scotty	Government	449.867	249 / 854
	Isabella Dageago	Government	365.829	257 / 854

Speaker

The Speaker is the presiding officer of Parliament. The Speaker is an MP elected by the MPs. The Speaker has no vote in no-confidence votes and presidential elections.

Following the April 2008 election, Riddell Akua was appointed Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru. He replaced David Adeang.^[6]

Two weeks after the April 2010 election, Godfrey Thoma was elected Speaker.^[5] Due to the political deadlock fresh elections were held in June, after which Parliament continued to be deadlocked until the election of Ludwig Scotty to the chair in November 2010. Scotty resigned at the end of the 20th Parliament in March 2013. Godfrey Thoma was elected to replace him. Following the 2013 election, Scotty was re-elected to the speaker's post.

References

1. "About Parliament", Parliament of Nauru Archived 20 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Nauru country brief" Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 10 November 2012
3. "Nauru Act 1965". Federal Register of Legislation. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
4. "Nauru election returns previous parliament unchanged". Radio New Zealand International. 26 April 2010. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
5. "Political standoff ends with speaker's election in Nauru", ABC Radio Australia, 13 May 2010 Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
6. "Nauru president moves to ensure political stability" Archived 22 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine, ABC Radio Australia, 1 May 2008

Sources

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2013-06-11/baron-waqa-named-as-new-nauru-president/1144022
http://www.naurugov.nr/government-information-office/media-release/honbaron-waqa-elected-president.aspx%5B‍%5D

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