On Wednesday next week, the people of Kiribati go to the polls in the first of two votes for a new government.
The second vote is on Monday, August 19, after which nominations will be made for president with that vote to happen in September or October.
Don Wiseman spoke with RNZ Pacific correspondent in Kiribati, Rimon Rimon, and began by asking him about the slightly lower number of candidates, 114 — down from 118 four years ago.
The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Rimon Rimon: I think there will always be around this number, as each constituency has [only] a certain number of candidates who can run, depending on the population. This time round, it’s quite interesting to learn that there are three electorates that don’t need any contest because there’s only one candidate running from there, and they are the incumbent candidates.
Don Wiseman: So, a surprise?
RR: It’s quite a surprise in a sense. I haven’t seen that in my lifetime here in Kiribati. Growing up in a constituency where only one candidate enjoys no need to campaign and all that is quite new.
But I think one common element about these candidates is they are currently from the ruling party. I don’t know if that has any relevance or not, but it’s a good point to note.
DW: And a significant number more women contesting it. How successful are women normally in Kiribati elections?
RR: Well, having women in Parliament is nothing new. We’ve had that since independence. But if we’re talking about numbers, then that’s where the discussion should be.
As you understand, Kiribati is a patriarchal society. So, men usually have the upper hand when it comes to decision making. It’s quite surprising, and also a welcoming sign to see that 18 women are running in the current elections, which is a great number compared to previous elections.
This year, we are having 10 females running from the capital, which, I think, tells a lot about why these women are so motivated to run for Parliament.
DW: Because of conditions on Tarawa?
RR: I’m sure nobody just wakes up one day and says, ‘hey, I might just try this and see how it goes’. I think people are compelled to run for several reasons. One interesting fact about these women is, three of them are lawyers. I think this says a lot about the current election, and perhaps the rule of law in Kiribati.
There’s been some controversy with the judiciary, within the last term, this current administration. One of these women is a staffer with the Attorney-General Office, which is the government’s lawyer. The others run their own private legal firms, and legal firms are quite popular here with a lot of civil cases going on.
There’s a lot of jobs to be done there. But for them to forego that and run for Parliament, that tells a lot about why they are doing that. It’s really interesting to learn why, as lawyers, as women with legal backgrounds, they are running for Parliament.
DW: We’re just a week or so out from that first election on the 14th — have party positions been revealed? Does that happen in Kiribati? Or is it all local issues that candidates talk about?
RR: Party affiliation is, especially during election time, more like “the big elephant in the room”. It’s right in front of you, but nobody really mentions it because candidates running for Parliament would want to get re-elected or elected first. It’s hard to gauge, for example, for one island, which way are they aligning, to whether it’s with the current ruling party or with opposition.
It’s a safe bet for candidates when they run, and most of them are doing that, say that ‘when I get re-elected, my party affiliation will be decided by you. I will come back again with you, once I’m elected. And then I will choose my party, which you want’.
A lot of these people running I know a lot of them — these are my own personal observations. I know the affiliations, and values and principles, what they support. I know where they stand. But these can all change when they get elected because, ultimately the people decide where they want their candidate or the elected nominee to be within parliament, whether in opposition or within the government.
DW: You alluded to the issues in the judiciary and the removal of all the senior judges from the country by the government. And there have been a number of other very controversial moves by this current government. Will those matters have an impact on the election?
RR: I think they will do. But there are also other pressing issues that would really matter for the people in this election. The majority of the population in Kiribati are grassroots people, people who live in the villages, who live within communities and who think about daily subsistence lives and how to get by each day with help from the government or with policies that are provided by the government.
Those are some of the deciding factors in elections and of course, there have been controversial policies that are open for debate. The opposition saying they’re not sustainable, they just draining money and resources, without generating revenue. I think that is one of the strengths of the current ruling party, the Tobwaan Kiribati Party, or TKP, to ensure it has several policies which mainly provide “giveaways” to the people, and these are quite popular.
Regardless of whether the judiciary is intact or disengaged or degraded, or whether the economy is not performing well, or the medical healthcare is not up to par, people tend to forget about all those other important issues when the daily issue is just getting food on the table and getting by each day.
DW: Would you anticipate a change of government?
RR: There’s always two sides of the coin, Don. I’m hearing a lot of people having had enough of this government. They have taken quite a tough approach on how they introduce a lot of their policies and decisions. Some of their policies are quite draconian, especially with media and all news information. I hear a lot of people saying we should have something new.
But then of course, the other half of the population, or people that I’ve been speaking to, especially in South Tarawa, here at the capital, are quite happy with the government’s performance and would like to see another four years of their reign in government. This all due to the policies that they give out, especially the giveaways.
DW: Now the giveaways. You’ve referred to these a few times.
RR: I talked about them because in Kiribati we are a least developing country, a Third World country. We don’t really have a social welfare benefit for our citizens. So, parties have tried to introduce that within their campaigns. The only social welfare benefit that all the people agree on is the elders’ fund. So, once you reach a certain age, and elders are quite respected in our culture, they get a monthly sum of money from the government.
Now, these [other] giveaways I’ve been talking about, it’s a signature of this current government’s policy. They call it the unemployment fund, which basically gives away A$50 to each person, each individual within the age of 18 to 59. These are, as you understand the voting ages of groups, and people find this very popular, in favour of the government, because they are getting money every month.
The other thing that I have been referring to as a giveaway is the copra money. We’ve had reports and advice from credible institutions like the World Bank, and the IMF, saying that subsidising copra money by the government cannot go any further than A$1 [per kilogram]. This government has brought that up to $4 and it’s quite popular. We’re seeing a lot of people going back to the outer islands and cutting copra, but these kinds of things constitute a big chunk of the economy.
The budget at certain times in this four years’ term, the government has had to rebalance the budget because it’s in deficit. These have been critical issues that the opposition have always been raising; that the key policies that this government is introducing or advocating, are not sustainable. Those are the kinds of things that are facing people nowadays, when they elect their government, choosing between those kinds of policies or some alternative.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
