Johnson Toribiong

Johnson Toribiong (born 22 July 1946) is a Palauan attorney and politician.
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Toribiong became the president of Palau, following his victory in the November 2008 election,
and left office in 2013.

Before 2020 elections, Toribiong has run for president four times - in 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012.

Background and early career

Toribiong was born in Airai, one of the states of Palau. He attended the College of Guam, 1965–66, and holds a Juris Doctor degree (1972) and a Master of Laws (1973) degree from the University of Washington School of Law.
His LL.M. thesis was entitled, "Oil Pollution by Ships and Micronesia: A Survey of Maritime Jurisdiction and Applicable Laws."

He was elected to the Senate of Palau in 1980. In the 1992 elections; Toribiong attracted 3,188 votes for president, versus 2,084 for one-term incumbent Ngiratkel Etpison and 3,125 for rival Kuniwo Nakamura; however, as no candidate attracted more than 50% of the vote, Nakamura and Toribiong went on to a runoff election, in which Toribiong was defeated. He is the former Ngiraked of Airai.

President

Toribiong was a candidate for president of Palau during the November 2008 presidential election.
His running mate for vice president of Palau, vice president was Kerai Mariur, a delegate in the Palau National Congress. Toribiong was opposed by Elias Camsek Chin, the outgoing Palauan vice president.

Toribiong led the early, unofficial vote tally with 1,629 votes to Chin's 1,499. The lead ultimately held and Toribiong defeated Chin in the election.

Toribiong was sworn into office as president of Palau on January 15, 2009.

In 2009, the Republic of Palau created the world's first shark sanctuary. It is illegal to catch sharks within Palau's EEZ, which covers an area of 230,000 square miles (600,000 km²). This is an area about the size of France. President Johnson Toribiong also called for a ban on global shark finning, stating: "These creatures are being slaughtered and are perhaps at the brink of extinction unless we take positive action to protect them."

Toribiong was defeated in the presidential election of 2012. One of the issues was his acceptance of 6 Uyghur former prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, who did not fit into Palauan society.

References

1946 births
21st-century Palauan politicians
Ambassadors of Palau to Taiwan
Living people
Members of the Senate of Palau
Palauan lawyers
People from Airai
Presidents of Palau
Traditional chiefs of Palau
University of Washington School of Law alumni
Johnson Toribiong and Christa Nafstad Toribiong challenge unlawful designation
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{{Palau-politician-stub, Current Lawsuit Against the Government of Palau=On January 22, 2024, Johnson Toribiong and his wife, Christa Nafstad Toribiong, filed suit against Surangel Whipps, Jr., as the current President of Palau and Ernestine Rengiil as the Attorney General of Palau. The case number is Civil Action 24-006, Judge Kathleen Salii presiding.
The lawsuit relates to Ernestine Rengiil adding Christa Nafstad Toribiong to a list of undesirable aliens in 2022 and alleges that the reason for Rengiil adding Nafstad Toribiong to the “blacklist” was in order to keep Johnson Toribiong from getting divorced in order to marry Christa Nafstad Toribiong, 32 years his junior. Both Johnson Toribiong and his wife are attorneys and are representing themselves pro se.
Currently, the married couple are separated by the ban on Christa Nafstad Toribiong entering Palau.