by Tusi Tala, Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taneti Maamau has been re-elected as the President of Kiribati for a third term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The citizens of Kiribati voted on Friday in the presidential elections, choosing from three candidates: Maamau, who has served for the past eight years, along with Bauntaake Beia and Kaotitaake Kokoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there was a twist when Kokoria separated from the ruling Tobwaan Kiribati Party (TKP) to create his own coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to New Zealand’s High Commissioner in Kiribati, Maamau secured approximately 55 percent of the votes, while Kokoria received 42 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chief justice of Kiribati, Tetiro Semilota, announced Maamau as the winner and extended his congratulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was the first Pacific leader to commend Maamau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Warm congratulations to President Maamau on the Kiribati election results,” he posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We anticipate collaborating with the Government of Kiribati to achieve our common goals,” he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foreign Minister Winston Peters also congratulated Maamau on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Best wishes to President Maamau on your re-election. We look forward to continuing to strengthen the close relationship between Kiribati and New Zealand.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ruth Cross Kwansing, a first-time MP from Kiribati who was elected as an independent in August but has since joined Maamau, also congratulated him on his re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“May God continue to bless and guide your leadership and our TKP Family as we serve abara Kiribati!” she posted on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Tusi Tala, Staff Writer Taneti Maamau has been re-elected as the President of Kiribati for a third term. The citizens of Kiribati voted on Friday in the presidential elections, choosing from three candidates: Maamau, who has served for the past eight years, along with Bauntaake Beia and Kaotitaake Kokoria. However, there was a twist…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kiribati"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}