Observers dismiss claims of unfair media access

NAURU – The leader of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s election observer mission to Nauru, Anote Tong, says polling day on the island was competent, transparent, free and fair.

The mission released an interim report on the election for the country’s 19-seat parliament which was conducted at the weekend.

Tong, who is a former president of Kiribati, said there was comprehensive scrutiny of all the polling stations by the observers and it was clear from all reports that polling was undertaken extremely well.

Some opposition politicians had, however, raised concerns about access to the media in the run up to the election.

Tong said any difficulties with Nauru’s media being state-owned and run were not “major” because Nauru’s small community means campaigning is best done directly.

“The question that one would ask – did any single individual have undue access to the media at the disadvantage of the rest? My answer would be that I never at any time saw any of the individual candidates either on the government side or the opposition having access to the media.”

But Tong did say there has to be media coverage in the future and everyone needs to be given the same access to promote their policies.

The three MPs who had been suspended from the last parliament have lost their seats.

In the three-member Meneng seat former president Sprent Dabwido and Squire Jeremiah have lost out to top-polling candidate Tawaki Kam, with Vodrick Detsiogo and Lionel Aingimea taking the other seats.

In the Boe constituency former justice minister Mathew Batsiua was beaten by Asterio Appi, who secured the most votes just ahead of the president in the previous government, Baron Waqa, who takes the second seat.

Another former president Marcus Stephen also lost his seat in the Anetan constituency where the two members will be Cyril Buraman and Sean Oppenheimer.

Another MP who had been suspended in the previous parliament, Dr Kieren Keke, won in the Yaren constituency, with Charmaine Scotty, the only woman in the last parliament, topping the poll there by a wide margin.

Last year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights urged Nauru to improve its standing in a range of areas including freedom of expression, the independence of the judiciary and crackdowns on media access.

Nauru’s government rejected most of the UN criticism.

The island also hosts the controversial detention centre housing asylum seekers on behalf of Australia – its biggest foreign aid contributor.

The detention centre currently contains about 500 people and has been widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights agencies for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse. There are also high rates of self-harm reported.

Political instability has also plagued Nauru, with reports of frequent government crackdowns on dissent.

There were 67 candidates vying for support from just under 8000 registered voters for the 19 seats in Nauru’s parliament.

Nauru President Baron Waqa was among those re-elected, the new Nauru Electoral Commission said.

- PNC sources