NAURU

ELECTIONS HELD IN 2004

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Chamber:

Parliament

Dates of election / renewal (from/to):

23 October 2004

Purpose of elections:

Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament following the premature dissolution of this body on 30 September 2004. General elections had previously been held in May 2003.

Background and outcome of elections:

On 1 October 2004, President Ludwig Scotty, declared a state of emergency, dissolved Parliament and called a snap election for 23 October 2004.

It was less than a year and a half since the last election in the country (3 May 2003) but there had been three changes of government since then. Mr Scotty decided to dissolve the Parliament after the Government was unable to introduce its new budget, which needed to be passed by an end of September deadline. Without the budget, the government became unable to continue operating normally.

The latest deadlock in Parliament had been brought about by the suspension of the Health Minister, Dr Kieren Keke, for holding dual citizenship of Nauru and Australia. Some days before the dissolution, the country's Chief Justice had given the opinion that Dr Keke could remain as a member of Parliament, but the Speaker, Mr Russell Kun, had refused to let him take his seat until the Parliament had voted on rescinding his suspension. With the numbers locked at eight all, the Government could not win that vote or pass its reformist budget by the deadline.

Opposition leaders condemned the President's action as unconstitutional, and challenged it in the Supreme Court. This Court, nevertheless upheld the President's decision.

The Government, which had been in power since July 2003 and had won regional support for its reform programme, campaigned on continuing that reform agenda while the opposition argued that its people, a number of them former Presidents, had a lot more experience in running the country.

Just three days before the elections, the Australian government announced that it would provide more money for the Nauruan government to implement its reform programme. In a statement released in Canberra, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer declared that Australia would provide nutritional advisers and $200,000 to Nauru to address failing food supplies and diet-related health problems.

A spokeswoman for the Government said that 76 people were contesting the 18 seats in Parliament, including all current MPs.

The Pacific Islands Forum sent a four-member observer mission, which was part of an overall plan of regional assistance for Nauru that had been agreed upon at the annual summit of Pacific Island leaders. The official election observers declared that they were satisfied that the people of Nauru had been able to vote in a free and fair manner.

According to the results, the outgoing government had won the elections as all nine sitting members of the Government had won their seats while seven of the nine opposition members of Parliament had lost their seats. Among the new members there were several who campaigned in support of the government's reform agenda.

On 26 October 2004, the new Parliament re-elected Mr Ludwig Scotty unopposed as President of the Republic. Previously, the Parliament had elected as Speaker the government's candidate, Mr Vassel Gadoengin.

STATISTICS


Round no 1 (23 October 2004): Election results
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes



Round no 1: Distribution of votes

Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%

Round no 1: Distribution of seats

Political Group

Total

Comments:

There are no formal political parties in Nauru.

Distribution of seats according to sex:

Men:

Women:

Percent of women:

Distribution of seats according to age:

Distribution of seats according to profession:

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