In the
Republic of the Marshall
Islands, the majority of the population vote
from somewhere other than their place of residence. Not only those who are
resident or working temporarily overseas, but also inter-island migrants and
displaced people from the atolls that are affected by US nuclear tests are
entitled to vote in their electoral district on their home island. Absentees
can therefore determine the outcome of elections, and party agents travel
widely overseas to attract voter support, campaigning in Hawaii,
in California, and among Marshallese employed
at the Tyson Foods chicken factory in Arkansas.
The Marshall Islands comprise two parallel chains of
islands, the Ratak (‘sunrise’) and Ralik (‘sunset’) groups, spread across
2 million square kilometres (km) of the Pacific Ocean.
Towards the north, the peoples of the Bikini, Rongelap, Enewetak and Utrik
atolls were displaced by 67 US
nuclear tests conducted between 1946 and 1958. Further south, Kwajalein Atoll
is the site of a sizeable US
military base and missile testing facility. It has the world’s largest lagoon,
which is used as a target for missiles fired from California under the Star Wars II
programme. Nearly half of the domestic population of 50,850 (46.6 per
cent) lives on Majuro, where the capital is located, and another 21.4 per
cent live on Kwajalein, most of them on the islet of Ebeye near the US
base (Office of Planning and Statistics 1999: 16, table 3.2).
Over
20 per cent of the population is resident outside the country. Owing to
the country’s Compact of Free Association with the USA, Marshallese are able to
enter the USA without visas to reside or work, but they are not automatically
eligible for US citizenship. Around 14,000 currently live on the US mainland, in Hawaii
or in the nearby US
territories of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern
Marianas.
The 1979
constitution provides for a unicameral parliament (the Nitijela) with
33 members, including at least one member for each of the
24 inhabited atolls and coral islands, with members elected on a First
Past The Post (or plurality) basis (article IV, section 2(1) of the
constitution). The more populous islands have multi-member electoral districts
with members elected by means of the Block Vote system. Five members are
elected from Majuro, three from Kwajalein and
two each from Arno, Ailinglaplap and Jaluit. All other inhabited atolls and
coral islands have a single representative. Although the population of the
country increased by 65 per cent between 1980 and 1999, there were no
changes in the distribution of Nitijela seats. Substantial inter-island
migration to Majuro and Kwajalein has left the
outer islands sparsely populated. Had electoral registration had been based on
residence, the result would have been significant inequities: the 1979
constitution (article 4, section 2[4]) specifies that ‘every member
of the Nitijela should represent approximately the same number of voters; but
account shall also be taken of geographical features, community interests, the
boundaries of existing administrative and recognized traditional areas, means of
communication and density and mobility of population’. However, potential
under-representation of the more urbanized atolls which receive migrants was
avoided (a) allowing electors to continue to register on their ancestral
islands in the outer islands and (b) a curious spontaneous redistricting
process.
The 1979
constitution entitles electors to register either where they reside or where
they hold land rights. Every person otherwise qualified to vote shall have the
right to vote in one and only one electoral district, being an electoral
district in which he either resides or has land rights, but a person who has a
choice of electoral districts pursuant to this paragraph shall exercise that
choice in any manner prescribed by law (1979 constitution, article 4,
section 3[3]). Most Marshall Islanders have land rights on several atolls
or islands, and hence multiple potential constituencies where they can register
as electors. Marshallese society is based on a system of exogamous matrilineal
clans. Clans are usually spread across several atolls, and intermarriage
between peoples from different atolls is frequent. However, matrilineal
inheritance does not exhaust the range of lineages and associated lands in
which an individual has rights. Particularly towards the south of the group of
islands, bilateral inheritance is common, and even in the more firmly
matrilineal systems children may claim patrilineal land-use rights back at
least five generations. Many of those who move to the urbanized centres of
Majuro and Kwajalein remain on the electoral
register on their island of origin. Many also shift regularly between electoral
districts, either to accompany favoured candidates or to avoid ‘wasting’ votes
on unlikely victors or to vote in smaller constituencies where votes count
more. Strategic re-registration of urban electors to outer island electorates
evens out the inequities arising from the maldistribution of seats across the
country.
For most of
the outer islands, the offshore vote is larger than the on-island vote and
therefore sufficient to determine electoral outcomes. When the reformist Kessai
Note administration came into office in 1999, many of its crucial victories in
remote constituencies occurred thanks to the addition of the votes of people
living on Majuro.
According
to the 1979 constitution, all Marshall
Islands citizens over 18 years of age,
except those who are imprisoned or certified insane, are eligible to vote.
Provisions for absentee voting are contained in the 1993 Electoral Act. To
qualify for registration by land rights, citizens require a supporting
affidavit from customary chiefs or, in the case of qualification by residence,
from local government officials. In practice, most requests for registration
are granted without affidavits being submitted. In theory, registration rights
can be challenged before the High Court, but this seldom occurs. The procedure
for registration of overseas electors is exactly the same as the that for
registration in the home electoral district. Applications for postal ballots
require ‘an affidavit sworn before a notary public in the country of residence’
(Elections and Referenda Regulations, 1993, section 118(6)).
There are
no geographical restrictions on the countries from which the voters can cast an
external vote.
External
voting is done exclusively by post. There is no provision for voting stations
outside the republic. Those who are temporarily or permanently outside the
republic vote by means of a postal ballot paper (Elections and Referenda
Regulations, 1993, section 118 (1)(b)). Historically, ballot papers have
been mailed in to the electoral office and, provided they meet the various
requirements, are accepted no matter where they are from.
In the 2003
election, the government sent election teams to distribute ballot papers to
registered voters living in the USA,
which resulted in a much higher turnout on the postal absentee front.
In the wake
of the 1999 election, the Marshallese Government restricted the scope for
re-registration of voters between constituencies. Citizens were required to
lodge applications at least a year before the 2003 polls. Yet, owing to
intensification of political competition accompanying the advent of a political
party-based system, a large number of voters continued to shift registration to
their preferred electoral district.
