Kiribati voters go to polls for 2nd round of parliamentary election

SYDNEY, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — Voters in Kiribati on Monday went to cast their ballots for the second round of voting in the parliamentary election of the Pacific island country.
Voters will cast their ballots to elect 19 members of parliament in the second round of voting, after 25 seats were confirmed following the first round on Wednesday, according to the country’s Ministry of Culture and Internal Affairs.
The polls opened at 7 a.m. local time and will close at 6 p.m. Results are expected to be released on Tuesday.
A total of 114 candidates competed in the first round of voting for 44 parliamentary seats. A candidate is elected if receiving more than 50 percent of the ballots cast and a second round is held when not all seats are filled.
The Kiribati parliament has 45 members, 44 elected for a four-year term in 23 single-seat and multi-seat constituencies and one as a non-elected delegate from the Banaban community on Rabi Island in Fiji.
Kiribati president and leader of the Tobwaan Kiribati Party Taneti Maamau retained his seat in the Onotoa constituency in the first round of voting with 83 percent of the votes.
The opposition leader Tessie Lambourne, the leader of the Boutokaan Kiribati Moa Party, also retained her seat in the Abemama constituency with 51 percent of the votes in the first round.
The new parliament will nominate no more than four presidential candidates among its members.
The Kiribati president, who is both head of state and head of government, is to be elected in a presidential election by universal adult suffrage.
Kiribati’s new parliament is scheduled to sit on Sept. 13 to select a shortlist of candidates for president. The national popular vote for the president of Kiribati is expected later in the year, possibly in October. ■