Nauru MP Lionel Aingimea has been sworn in as the country's new president, replacing Baron Waqa, who lost his seat in Saturday's general election.

Mr Aingimea, a second term MP, defeated David Adeang by 12 to 6 in the parliamentary vote.

The speaker is former president Marcus Stephen, who won by 12 votes to 7 over Shadlog Bernicke.

Mr Aingimea is a former secretary of justice and served as an assistant minister in various portfolios in the previous government.

Photo: Facebook/ Parliament of the Republic of Fiji

In his first statements as president, Mr Aingimea said he was humbled to be elected to the position, but acknowledged the tough work ahead of him.

Describing himself as the "father of the nation", he likened the 12,000 population of Nauru as being children who need protection and guidance.

Collaborative approach

The President said his first duty in office was to address administrative areas such as the appointment of ministers and assistant ministers.

According to him there would be a new way in how government deals with assistant ministers.

He said every minister and assistant minister would start meeting with their heads of department on a regular basis.

"They need to be briefed by their HODs, they need to come up with a plan, and what's happening," he said.

"And after discussion, they come back to cabinet and they give their vision to cabinet of where they want to go," President Aingimea said.

He said his vision for Nauru was for everyone to work together.

"Everyone has ideas, everyone needs those ideas to be voiced and when they need to be tempered, to be tempered.

"That's my vision that we work together as a unit, for the prosperity and the betterment of Nauru," he said.

President Aingimea is expected to announce his cabinet at the oath ceremony in front of the government office tomorrow (Wednesday 28 August). </s> Lionel Aingimea wins a parliamentary vote for the presidency 12-6 over rival David Adeang, the Nauru government information office says

NEW PRESIDENT. Lionel Aingimea, former assistant law minister for the country of Nauru. Photo from Flickr by Commonwealth Secretariat

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A former human rights lawyer was elected Nauru's new president Tuesday, following calls for widespread reform in the tiny Pacific nation which Australia uses as a detention centre for asylum seekers.

Lionel Aingimea won a parliamentary vote for the presidency 12-6 over rival David Adeang, the Nauru government information office said.

It comes in the wake of a general election last weekend that saw more than half of Nauru's 19 lawmakers swept from office, including two-term president Baron Waqa.

Adeang had been considered favourite to take the top job from Waqa, a strong supporter of Australia's hardline refugee policy.

Australia's Lowy Institute think tank last year said the country of 11,000 "lurched towards authoritarianism" under Waqa's leadership.

His government made it difficult for international media to visit Nauru to report on conditions facing asylum seekers and pursued domestic political opponents through the courts, accusing them of rioting during a 2015 protest outside parliament.

Speaking before Aingimea's election to the presidency, opposition figure Mathew Batsiua said the general election was "a decisive win for change".

"Clearly people have had enough of ... a government that's been cracking down on the rights and freedoms of people," he told Radio New Zealand.

"People want a government that's more fair and that doesn't leave people behind."

Whether Aingimea will prove a reformist is unclear.

The Australian-trained lawyer previously worked as a senior trainer with the Regional Rights Resource Team, a Fiji-based body aimed at promoting human rights in the Pacific.

However, Aingimea subsequently worked in the Waqa administration, first as a senior public servant, then as an assistant minister for justice and border control.

Australia's policy of processing asylum seekers on Nauru – and the equally remote Manus island in Papua New Guinea – has proved an economic lifeline for a country which exhausted its previous source of wealth: phosphate deposits used as fertiliser.

Nauru's government revenues ballooned from Aus$20 million (US$13 million) in 2010-11 to Aus$115 million (US$77 million) in 2015-16 largely due to fees paid by Canberra linked to the asylum policy, official Australian data shows.

Refugee advocates estimate around 300 refugees remain on the island, down from a peak of about 1,200 in 2014.

Rights groups and the United Nations have consistently criticised the conditions faced by refugees, warning indefinite detention causes mental health problems and suicide attempts. – Rappler.com </s> Former human rights lawyer Lionel Aingimea has been elected Nauru's new President, two days after results showed Baron Waqa was not re-elected after six years in power.

Mr Aingimea won a parliamentary vote for the presidency 12-6 over rival David Adeang, the Nauru Government information office reported.

Mr Aingimea previously served as Nauru's secretary for justice under Finance Minister David Adeang.

More than 7,000 voters were registered to take part in the poll to determine who would govern for the next three years.

While the result came as a surprise to many, Pacific analyst Tess Newton Cain said it reflected the younger make-up of the new Parliament voted in on Saturday's election.

"One of the big changes that we've seen is not only a turnover in terms of established people losing their seats and new people coming in, but a lot of these new people are aged 40 and under," she told the ABC.

"This does very much seem a push from the younger generation for something new and maybe accounts for why Mr Aingimea was able to secure the presidency in competition with Mr Adeang.

"He has [been active in] promoting human rights and the rule of law, so it will certainly be interesting to see whether his leadership provides us with some comfort as to the protection of rule of law in Nauru going forward."

The change in leadership follows calls for humanitarian reform in the tiny Pacific nation.

Nauru became the site of Australia's first offshore processing centre in 2001 under the so-called "Pacific solution".

The country now draws a sizeable amount of its revenue from the visa fees it charges Australia per asylum seeker, payments and taxes associated with the regional processing centre, as well as aid.

Ronald Kun, a former Nauruan minister who fled to New Zealand and now lives in Australia, told the ABC that the electorate had sent a "very clear message at the ballot box".

"People want a change in approach [of leadership]… people were fed up with the poor governance," he said. </s> Nauru’s new president, Lionel Aingimea, says he will be like a “father of the nation”, guiding and protecting the South Pacific island’s 12,000 people.

Aingimea won the vote for presidency on Tuesday, 12 votes to six, against former finance minister David Adeang.

Former president Baron Waqa, who has led the nation for the past six years, lost his bid for re-election at last weekend’s poll.

Aingimea said in a statement the people of Nauru were like “children that need protecting and guiding”.

“My vision for Nauru is for us to work together, all members of parliament, because everybody has a contribution,” he said. “Everyone has ideas, everyone needs those ideas to be voiced and, when they need to be tempered, to be tempered.

“That’s my vision that we work together as a unit, for the prosperity and the betterment of Nauru.”

In 2015 he attracted controversy as secretary of justice for overseeing Nauru’s ban on Facebook and other websites. He will announce his cabinet on Wednesday.

The outgoing president’s support was critical to Nauru hosting one of Australia’s asylum seeker detention facilities on the island.

The parliamentary election was held on Saturday. Seven thousand people voted to make up the 19-member parliament.

Aingimea will inherit a humanitarian crisis for almost 300 refugees remaining on Nauru, with the Nauruan government accused of blocking some medical care to refugees and the Australian government attempting to repeal medevac laws.

Medevac laws allow for doctors to arrange for the urgent medical transfer of a refugee from Nauru or Manus Island to Australia.

In February the Nauru government passed laws that presented residents of Nauru from being granted a medical transfer to Australia if the referral was based on an online consultation, which is common in the treatment of refugees. </s> Sydney: Nauru President Baron Waqa was voted out of office in the tiny South Pacific island nation after six years in power, media reports said on Sunday.

Waqa was beaten in his seat of Boe in a national election on Saturday. He contested the seat against four other candidates, two of whom won seats in Nauru's 19-member parliament, the ABC reported.

Sixty candidates contested the election, seeking the support of 7400 registered voters. Final results were expected later on Sunday.

Political instability has plagued Nauru in the past but the previous election in 2016 was deemed by Commonwealth observers to be transparent and fair. </s> Nauru's Parliament chose Lionel Aingimea as president on Tuesday, three days after elections in the tiny Pacific island nation.

Aingimea won the presidency 12-6 over rival David Adeang, the Nauru government information office reports.

Two-term President Baron Waqa lost his seat when voters swept the majority of Nauru's 19 lawmakers from office in the weekend's general elections. Speaking before Aingimea's election to the presidency on Tuesday, the opposition figure Mathew Batsiua called the general election "a decisive win for change." "People want a government that's more fair and that doesn't leave people behind." Batsiua said.

Aingimea, a lawyer trained in Australia, previously worked with the Regional Rights Resource Team NGO. However, Aingimea subsequently worked in the Waqa administration, first as a senior public servant — then as an assistant minister for justice and border control.

Nauru "lurched towards authoritarianism" under Waqa, according to Australia's Lowy Institute. He attempted to keep media from visiting to report on conditions facing displaced people held on the island to prevent them from reaching Australia, and pursued domestic political opponents through the courts, accusing them of rioting during a 2015 protest outside parliament. Last year, his government had ordered Doctors Without Borders to stop working with displaced people on Nauru.

Waqa supported camps on Naura on behalf of Australia, which provides about one-third of the country's revenue. Australia's policy of processing asylum applicants on Nauru has proved an economic lifeline for the country, which had sold out of its previous source of wealth: phosphate deposits used as fertilizer. Nauru's government revenues ballooned from the equivalent of $13 million in 2010-11 to about $77 million in 2015-16 — largely thanks to fees paid by Australia's government linked to the asylum policy.

Advocates for displaced people estimate that about 300 refugees remain on the island, down from a peak of about 1,200 in 2014. Rights groups and the United Nations have consistently criticized the conditions faced by displaced people kept at bay from Australia, warning that policies of indefinite detention had contributed to mental health problems.

Nauru has a population of just over 11,000, and a surface area of 21 square kilometers (8 square miles) — making it larger only than Monaco and Vatican City.

DW sends out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here. </s> Nauru’s president, Baron Waqa, has reportedly lost his seat in parliament.

Preliminary election results from his electorate of Boe show that Waqa, who has been president since 2013, lost out to Asterio Appi and Martin Hunt.

He only narrowly beat the former cabinet minister and serving opposition member Mathew Batsiua for third place.

The Nauru parliamentary election was held on Saturday. Seven thousand people voted to make up the 19-member parliament. Results from six of the eight electorates had been published by Sunday morning.

Batsiua was suspended from parliament in 2014 after publicly criticising the Waqa government and is a member of the Nauru 19, a group of protestors facing prosecution over a protest against the removal of Batsiua and two others from parliament.

The former president Ludwig Scotty, re-elected in May in a byelection, also lost his seat in the Anabar electorate, along with a fellow sitting MP, Riddell Akua. Elected in their place were Maverick Eoe and Pyon Deiye.

According to the official Republic of Nauru Twitter account, the home affairs minister, Charmaine Scotty, was re-elected in Yaren alongside Isabella Dageago.

Khyde Menke, Tawaki Kam and Lionel Aingimea were elected in Menang while Milton Dube was re-elected in Aiwo, alongside Rennier Gadabu. The opposition MP Marcus Stephen was re-elected in Anetan, as was newcomer Timothy Ika.

The former justice minister Roland Kun is out in Buada, with the government MP Shadlog Bernicke retaining his seat alongside Bingham Agir.

More to come </s> Nauru President Baron Waqa loses bid for re-election

Updated

Results from the Nauru Electoral Commission show the incumbent President of Nauru has lost his bid to return to power.

Key points: Nauru's incumbent President Baron Waqa lost his parliamentary seat in the national election

His government was accused of trying to artifically boost numbers by granting foreigners citizenship

There was speculation Finance Minister David Adeang was bidding to oust Mr Waqa by backing a rival candidate

Baron Waqa has not been re-elected for a seat in his constituency of Boe during the national election that took place on Saturday.

The 59-year-old had held the presidential title since 2013.

More than 7,000 voters were registered to take part in the poll to determine who will govern for the next three years.

Voters elect members from their constituencies which make up Nauru's Parliament of 19 members.

Those members will ultimately decide who should hold the presidency.

In the run-up to the election, there was speculation that the country's Finance Minister, David Adeang, was bidding to oust Mr Waqa by backing a rival candidate in his constituency.

Roland Kun, a former Nauruan minister who fled to New Zealand and now lives in Australia, told the ABC that new candidates had been installed in the Boe constituency before the election.

"In Baron's constituency there's another candidate who has been put up by David Adeang, the Minister for Finance, and he's putting his support behind that candidate instead of his colleague in the Government," he said.

"We know what that's about because from our standpoint, David is pursuing the presidency."

"I think [the election result] is a very clear message that people do want change," he said on Sunday afternoon.

Pacific expert Tess Newton Cain, who has worked for the United Nations and World Bank in the region, also highlighted the fact that two of the 19 members of parliament are women.

"This is a significant achievement for Nauru in a region where women are not really well represented in national parliament."

Mr Waqa was contesting his constituency against four other candidates, with two of them, Asterio Appi and Martin Hunt, elected to Parliament.

Another candidate in his constituency Mathew Batsiua, a former foreign minister and member of the Nauru 19, was not elected and came fourth.

Will the result impact Australia's offshore processing policy?

Nauru became the site of Australia's first offshore processing centre in 2001 under the so-called "Pacific Solution".

The country now draws a sizeable amount of its revenue from the visa fees it charges Australia per asylum seeker, payments and taxes associated with the regional processing centre, as well as aid.

Mr Waqa's government favoured keeping the controversial centre open in Nauru, and the change in government now has the potential to significantly impact Australian asylum policy.

"While the [offshore processing centre] makes significant contributions to the economy of Nauru, that is obviously declining as the centre gets smaller… I think whoever takes over government will be looking at what's next for Nauru in terms of replacing those revenue streams as they dwindle," Ms Newton Caine told the ABC.

Mr Kun believed there would be no immediate changes to the offshore processing centre because the government still had no "fallback plan".

Government accused of 'number-boosting'

Mr Waqa's Government was accused of artificially boosting its support by granting citizenship to around 118 foreigners.

One Nauru-born campaign worker told the ABC that these new citizens are mainly Chinese people employed by the Government.

"It's been posted on Facebook, new names of these Chinese people," said a former Treasury worker who was dismissed for criticising Mr Waqa's Government and who asked to remain anonymous.

"They've been approached with some sort of application with a police clearance and medical check-ups, and it's just like that, overnight you're a citizen."

Ms Newton Cain said it was "hard to see how [the number boosting] couldn't have had an impact on the election."

"There are only 7,000 voters in Nauru and as we can see from the results, a number of these seats are won by a very small number — in the hundreds in a number of cases.

"Any additions to the roll are likely to have an impact," she said.

Mr Kun said voters had been "very upset" by the new names on the electoral roll and had raised their concerns "all around the country" in the lead-up to the election.

Joseph Cain, Nauru's electoral commissioner, told the ABC the new citizens had to be included in the electoral roll.

"The gazette for these new citizens was published at 16.58 on 3 August, two minutes before the roll closed," he said.

"Because the gazette was published before the close of the roll, I am required to obey the law and place these new citizens on the electoral roll."

Topics: government-and-politics, elections, community-and-society, immigration, nauru

First posted </s> FILE PHOTO: Nauru President Divavesi Waqa addresses the General Assembly in New York

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Nauru President Baron Waqa was voted out of office in the tiny South Pacific island nation after six years in power, media reports said on Sunday.

Waqa was beaten in his seat of Boe in a national election on Saturday. He contested the seat against four other candidates, two of whom won seats in Nauru's 19-member parliament, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Sixty candidates contested the election, seeking the support of 7,400 registered voters. Final results were expected later on Sunday.

Political instability has plagued Nauru in the past but the previous election in 2016 was deemed by Commonwealth observers to be transparent and fair.

The Micronesian nation, with a population estimated at about 11,300 people, once made its money from phosphate mining.

The island also hosts a controversial detention center housing asylum seekers on behalf of Australia, its biggest foreign aid donor.

Under Australian law, would-be asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach its shores by boat are sent for processing to offshore camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Lionel Aingimea is sworn in as the President of Nauru, replacing Baron Waqa.