Banuera Berina (born 3 November 1962 in Beru) is a lawyer and a politician from

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

, representing Kuria in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony adm ...

. He was the opposition candidate in the

2020 Kiribati presidential election Presidential elections were held in Kiribati on 22 June 2020. Incumbent President Taneti Maamau of the Tobwaan Kiribati Party was re-elected with 59% of the vote. Campaign Relations with China and Taiwan served as the main issue during the elec ...

. Berina was a private lawyer since 1992. In May 2003, Berina was first elected to Parliament for the district of

South Tarawa South Tarawa ( gil, Tarawa Teinainano) is the capital and hub of the Republic of Kiribati and home to more than half of Kiribati's population. The South Tarawa population centre consists of all the small islets from Betio in the west to Bonri ...

and eventually rose to become the chairman of the ruling

Tobwaan Kiribati Party The Tobwaan Kiribati Party ( en, Embracing Kiribati Party; TKP) is a political party in Kiribati. History The party was established in January 2016 as a merger of the Maurin Kiribati Party and the United Coalition Party. The two parties had won ...

. On 3 November 2019, after President

Taneti Maamau Taneti Maamau (modern spelling: Taaneti Mwamwau, born 16 September 1960) is an I-Kiribati politician who has served as the 5th President of Kiribati since 11 March 2016. Political career A member of Tobwaan Kiribati Party, he began his career ...

of the party switched from a pro-

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

to a pro-

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

stance, he founded and became the Chairman of the

Kiribati First Party The Kiribati First Party ( gil, Kiribati Moa Party; KMP) was a political party in Kiribati until it merged with Pillars of Truth to create the Boutokaan Kiribati Moa Party in 2020. History The party was established in November 2019 after Banu ...

along with 12 other MPs. He unsuccessfully ran as the single opposition candidate in the

, where he was supported by the

Boutokaan Kiribati Moa Party The Boutokaan Kiribati Moa Party (BKM) is a political party in Kiribati from the merger of the Kiribati First Party and Boutokaan te Koaua in 2020. History The party was established in May 2020, after the merger of the Pillars of Truth wit ...

, formed following the merger of his party and the

Pillars of Truth Pillars of Truth ( gil, Boutokaan te Koaua; BK or BTK) was a political party in Kiribati, until 2020 when it merged with the Kiribati First Party to create the Boutokaan Kiribati Moa Party. The party was created through a split in the Nati ...

Party.

References

Living people Members of the House of Assembly (Kiribati) People from the Gilbert Islands Tobwaan Kiribati Party politicians 21st-century I-Kiribati politicians Kiribati First Party politicians Boutokaan Kiribati Moa Party politicians Maurin Kiribati Party politicians 1962 births {{Kiribati-politician-stub