2019 Micronesian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in the Federated States of Micronesia on 5 March 2019, alongside a referendum on calling a Constitutional Convention. All 14 seats in Congress were up for election, and all 13 incumbents standing for re-election were returned to Congress.[1]

Federated States
of Micronesia
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the Federated States of Micronesia

A majority of voters voted in favour of calling a Constitutional Convention, which was subsequently elected on 5 November 2019.[2]

Electoral system

The 14 members of Congress were elected by two methods; ten are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting for two year terms. Four were at-large Senator, with one elected from each state for a four-year term.[3]

Following the elections, the President and Vice-President are elected by the Congress, with only the four at-large Senators allowed to be candidates.[3]

Unlike a constitutional referendum, which requires 75% of the vote in three of the four states to vote in favour in order for the proposal to be approved, referendums on calling constitutional referendums require only a simple majority of the vote.[4]

Campaign

A total of 32 candidates were originally registered to contest the elections,[5] although Chuuk Electoral District 1 candidate Mithasy Mark later dropped out, leaving Florencio Singkoro Harper to run unopposed.[1] Former President Joseph Urusemal was the only candidate for the Senatorial seat in Yap State, whilst Victor Gouland ran unopposed in Electoral District 2 in Chuuk State.[5]

Referendums

A national referendum was held alongside the parliamentary election in which voters were asked whether they were in favor of calling a constitutional convention.[6]

An independence referendum was scheduled to be held in Chuuk State on the same day, but was postponed.

Results

Congress
State District Candidate Votes % Notes
ChuukAt-LargeWesley Simina17,270Re-elected
Erin Eram3,523
Election District 1Florencio Singkoro Harper2,975100Re-elected unopposed
Election District 2Victory Gouland2,694100Re-elected unopposed
Election District 3Derensio Konman4,616Re-elected
Eflove Mailos2,267
Election District 4Tiwiter Aritos5,062Re-elected
Manuel Rawit593
Smith Paulus298
Election District 5Robson Urak Romlow1,119Re-elected
Vidalino Jones Raatior708
Zander Refilong463
Arisao Aichem353
Joseph Konno, Jr.186
KosraeAt-LargeYosiwo George1,824Elected
Aren Palik1,814
Election DistrictPaliknoa Welly2,130Re-elected
Johnson Asher1,491
PohnpeiAt-LargeDavid Panuelo6,774Re-elected
Peter M. Christian6,714
Election District 1Ferny Perman2,397Re-elected
Merlynn Abello-Alfonso2,136
Election District 2Dion Neth2,077Re-elected
Berney Martin1,105
Herman Semes, Jr.1,020
Quincy Lawrence1,003
Election District 3Esmond Moses2,543Re-elected
Marstella Jack1,155
YapAt-LargeJoseph Urusemal2,371100Re-elected unopposed
Election DistrictIsaac Figir2,225Re-elected
Fidelik Thiyer-Fanoway244
Source: PIO

Referendum

The referendum proposal was approved by 61% of voters overall. A majority was in favour in Kosrae and Pohnpei, but it was rejected in Chuuk and Yap.[7] However, as an overall majority of voters approved the proposal, a Constitutional Convention was elected on 5 November 2019.

Choice Popular vote State
vote
Votes %
For10,03360.82
Against6,45839.22
Invalid/blank votes––
Total16,4911004
Registered voters/turnout–
Source: PIO

By state
State For Against
Votes % Votes %
Chuuk1,54544.511,92655.49
Kosrae1,47675.4648024.54
Pohnpei5,94868.072,79031.93
Yap1,06445.741,26254.26
Source: Direct Democracy

References
  1. FSM Election 2019 Certified Results Hawaii Free Press, 8 March 2019
  2. FSM announces winning constitutional convention candidates Marianas Variety, 14 November 2019
  3. Electoral system IPU
  4. Article XIV: Amendments Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia
  5. 32 Petitions Filed for National Elections 2019 Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia
  6. FSM president likely to lose seat to House speaker Archived 2019-09-15 at the Wayback Machine Pacific News Centre, 7 March 2019
  7. "PIO". Archived from the original on 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
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