Kiribati President Anote Tong wins general elections
MWAIE
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/23/asia/AS-POL-Kiribati-Election.php
Kiribati President Anote Tong is poised for another term in office
after retaining his seat in general elections in the diminutive South
Pacific country, officials said Thursday.
Voters went to the polls on Wednesday, with 146 candidates contesting
44 seats in the nation's parliament.
A run off round of voting will be held next Thursday after the top-
polling candidates in 26 seats failed to get the 50 percent of votes
needed to win their electorates, Kiribati's Deputy Electoral
Commissioner Iotoa Tetukei said.
President Tong polled 1,048 votes out of the 1,142 cast in his
electorate, and is likely to form the next government.
Tetukei said several of Tong's government ministers also appeared to
have retained their seats, including Vice President Teima Onorio.
Voter turnout was about 80 percent, he said.
Kiribati is made up of 33 islands, 21 of them inhabited. Many are low-
lying and have been identified as being at risk from rising sea
levels.
The Kiribati president is chosen by popular vote from a list of
candidates nominated by parliament after a general election. Tetukei
said Tong would seek re-election.
After his election in 2003, Tong switched Kiribati's diplomatic
recognition from China to rival Taiwan, a move that China angrily
denounced as "an open betrayal."
Also elected for another term was Ieremaia Tabai, Kiribati's first
president after it gained independence from Britain in 1979.
Tabai, who served full two terms as president, is barred under the
constitution from seeking a further term as the nation's leader.
President Tong's older brother, medical practitioner Dr. Harry Tong,
also hopes to retain this seat, as well as another former Kiribati
head of government, Teburoro Tito.
Both men are leaders in Kiribati's informal opposition party.
Located on the Equator, halfway between Hawaii and Australia, Kiribati
is heavily dependent on revenue from fishing licenses, which in 2001
earned it US$33 million, while tourism accounts for more than 20
percent of gross domestic product.
Kiribati also depends on coconuts, fishing, revenue from a national
investment fund, foreign aid and cash returns from thousands of
Kiribati seamen who work on foreign ships.