Parliamentary elections were held in the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...

on 5 March 2019, alongside a referendum on calling a Constitutional Convention. All 14 seats in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

were up for election, and all 13 incumbents standing for re-election were returned to Congress. A majority of voters voted in favour of calling a Constitutional Convention, which was subsequently elected on 5 November 2019.

Electoral system

The 14 members of Congress were elected by two methods; ten were elected in single-member constituencies by

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

for two year terms, while four were at-large Senator, with one elected from each state for a four-year term.Electoral system
IPU Following the elections, the President and Vice-President were elected by the Congress, with only the four at-large Senators allowed to be candidates. 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.

Campaign

A total of 32 candidates were originally registered to contest the elections, Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia although Chuuk Electoral District 1 candidate Mithasy Mark later dropped out, leaving Florencio Singkoro Harper to run unopposed.FSM Election 2019 Certified Results
Hawaii Free Press, 8 March 2019 Former President

Joseph Urusemal Joseph John "Joe" Urusemal (born March 19, 1951) is a Micronesian political figure who served as the sixth President of the Federated States of Micronesia from 2003 until 2007. Urusemal is married to former First Lady Olania Latileilam, who i ...

was the only candidate for the Senatorial seat in

Yap State Yap State ( or ) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, located in the westernmost portion of the country. The state borders Palau to the southwest, Guam to the north, and Chuuk State to the east. According to the state' ...

, whilst

Victor Gouland The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

ran unopposed in Electoral District 2 in

Chuuk State Chuuk State (; also known as Truk) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It consists of several island groups: Nomoneas, Faichuk, Faichuuk, the Hall Islands, Namonuito Atoll (Magur Islands), Pattiw (Western Isl ...

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. An

independence referendum An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an Independence, independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independenc ...

was scheduled to be held in

on the same day, but was postponed.

Results

Incumbent president Peter M. Christian was not elected to Congress, making him ineligible for a second term. He lost the Pohnpei At-Large election by 59 votes.

Congress

Referendum

The referendum proposal was approved by 61% of voters overall. A majority was in favour in

Kosrae Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Caroline Islands archipelago, and States of Micronesia, state within the Federated States of Micronesia. It includes the main island of Kosrae, traditionally known as Ual ...

and

Pohnpei Pohnpei (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, from Pohnpeian: "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')") is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the fou ...

, but it was rejected in Chuuk and

Yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...

. However, as an overall majority of voters approved the proposal, a Constitutional Convention was elected on 5 November 2019.

By state

Aftermath

On 4 July 2019 a special election was held in Pohnpei and Kosrae to fill the at-large seats vacated by President Panuelo and Vice President George, respectively. Peter M. Christian was elected in Pohnpei, while Aren Palik won in Kosrae.

References

{{Micronesian elections

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

2019 in the Federated States of Micronesia Election and referendum articles with incomplete results Elections in the Federated States of Micronesia