Parliamentary elections were held in the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

on 1 February 1978, with a second round on 6 February.

Electoral system

The recommendations of the 1977 constitutional convention on a proposed electoral system were introduced prior to the 1978 elections. There were to be 35 members of 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 as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

, who would be elected from 13 single-member constituencies, 8 two-member constituencies, and 2 three-member constituencies. The three-member constituencies covered

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 Bonriki ...

, the capital and home to nearly one-third of the entire population of 56,000. For the first time,

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

, Fanning and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Islands, as well as

Banaba BanabaThe correct spelling and etymology in Gilbertese should be ''Bwanaba'' but the Constitution of Kiribati writes Banaba. Because of the spelling in English or French, the name was very often written Paanapa or Paanopa, as it was in 1901 Ac ...

, each returned one member from their populations of migrant workers and their families. The 35 members of the House of Assembly were elected from 23 constituencies (with each island forming a constituency) using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

; if no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round was held within seven days.

Campaign

All candidates for the 35 seats ran as independents. In three constituencies (two seats on Beru, one on

Arorae Arorae (spelling variants: Arorai, Arurai; also known as Hope Island or Hurd Island“Captain Patterson, commanding the brig ''Elizabeth'', called it Hope Island: “Hope Island, in 2° 43′ S and 176° 56′ 25″ E, was the first discovery, t ...

) the candidates were returned unopposed.

Results

Elected members

Aftermath

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

for

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

was held on 17 March between

Ieremia Tabai Ieremia Tienang Tabai (modern spelling: Tabwai; born 16 December 1949) is an I-Kiribati politician who served as the first Beretitenti President of the Republic of Kiribati, after being the youngest ever Chief minister of the Commonwealth of Na ...

Roniti Teiwaki Roniti Teiwaki is an I-Kiribati politician. After the 1974 general election, he became member of the Cabinet of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands of Naboua Ratieta as Minister of Education, Training and Culture, then confirmed from March 1978 a ...

Babera Kirata Ratimiti Babera Kirata (1938-1991) was an I-Kiribati politician, elected in the House of Representatives in 1967 for the constituency of Onotoa. He was nominated candidate to the 1978 Gilbertese Chief Minister election. He was born in Onotoa wher ...

and

Taomati Iuta Taomati T. Iuta (2 May 1939 on Beru Island

. After Tabai won with 56% of the vote, he appointed a cabinet with Teewe Arobati as Minister for the Line and Phoenix Group, Tiwau Awira as Minister for Finance, Iuta as Minister for Trade, Industry and Labour, Kirata as Minister for Works and Communications, Abete Merang as Minister Health and Community Affairs, Ieremia Tata as Minister for Education, Training and Culture,

Teatao Teannaki Teatao Teannaki (15 June 1935– 11 October 2016) was an I-Kiribati political figure who served as President of Kiribati from 1991 until 1994. He was first elected to represent Abaiang in the House of Assembly of the Gilbert Islands. Teatao Te ...

as Minister for Home Affairs and Teiwaki as Minister for Natural Resource Development. Following independence, Tabai became president, with Teannaki as vice-president.Historical Information on Members of the Parliament of Kiribati
Parliament of Kiribati

References

{{Kiribati elections

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

Parliamentary elections in Kiribati Non-partisan elections