Politics of Nauru
The government has also invested in property on other islands and the United States through its Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust.
In April 2000, René Harris, former chairman of the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, became president as he briefly assembled support in parliament.
Bernard Dowiyogo died in office in March 2003 and Ludwig Scotty was elected as the president, later being re-elected to serve a full term in October 2004.
He held the presidential title six years from 2013 to 2019, but in January 2014 an institutional crisis occurred when the President started a systematic campaign of repression against the opposition and the judicial branch of the government.
[6] [7] In August 2019 the parliament elected former human rights lawyer Lionel Aingimea as the new president of Nauru.
Phosphate depletion will likely be one of the most important considerations for the government in the next few years as the supply was forecast to be exhausted by 2023[citation needed].
As noted above, offshore banking has been one arena into which Nauru has traversed, however, the rewards are limited by growing concern about the ethical parameters of this business.
The mining left an ecological and economic disaster for Nauru to handle when the country achieved independence in 1968.
Thus, Nauru was left to handle the immense and expensive task of restoring large chunks of land which were destroyed by the mining.
[citation needed] Finally, in 1993, Nauru was forced to turn to the International Court of Justice at The Hague in The Netherlands.
The case was soon afterwards settled out of court by Australia, with Britain and New Zealand also contributing to the reparations sought by Nauru.
Arable land is very limited as are all other natural resources, now that its long-time economic base of phosphate mines has been almost completely depleted.
Nevertheless, this particular 22-year-long legacy was broken when Nauru's president decided to change its allegiance and establish formal relations with the People's Republic of China.
"[citation needed] Nauru's decision to recognise Beijing via the signing of diplomatic papers and a joint communique ultimately resulted in the cessation of Taiwanese aid.
The power struggle occurred following a non-confidence vote in parliament, which effectively ejected Harris from the position of president.
Meanwhile, in parliamentary elections held in May 2003, Nauru First Party won 3 seats and independents garnered 15 in total.
For his part, Scotty had resigned as parliamentary speaker in April 2004 in protest of the Nauru's financial crisis which included the commencement of receivership proceedings by corporate giant, General Electric.
During that period, Nauru faced the seizure of its assets if the country failed to honour its debt payments.
[11] [12] In August 2019 the parliament elected former human rights lawyer Lionel Aingimea as the new president of Nauru.
[19] Three of the MPs, Mathew Batsiua, Kieren Keke and Roland Kun, were suspended in May 2014 for making comments to international media critical of the government and the alleged breakdown of the rule of law.
[21] In June 2015, Jeremiah, Dabwido, and Batsiua were arrested and Kun had his passport cancelled amid claims that they had been trying to destabilize the Government by talking to foreign media.
Ludwig Scotty was elected President on 29 May 2003, but this did not bring to an end the years of political uncertainty as he was replaced by Harris a few months later.
15 of the 18 members of the current parliament are independents, and alliances within the government are often formed on the basis of extended family ties.
However, there is a 100-person regular police force under civilian command, backed by volunteer reservists trained to provide support in the event of serious unrest.
