The Senate of Palau is the

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

of the

Palau National Congress Palau has a bicameral legislature, the Palau National Congress (''Olbiil era Kelulau''), consisting of the House of Delegates and the Senate of Palau, which both sit at the capitol complex in Ngerulmud, Melekeok State. The House of Delegates h ...

(''Olbiil era Kelulau''). The Senate has 13 members serving four-year terms in multi-seat constituencies. No

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

exist. The most recent election was held on 3 November 2020.

Membership

The Constitution does not indicate the number of a members of the Senate. Every 8 years, the National Congress appoints a reapportionment commission to draw up and recommend a district map allocating seats in accordance with the population. Therefore, the number of senators may change as frequently as every 8 years. Any voter can challenge a reapportionment before the Palau Supreme Court. During the first legislature in 1981, there were 18 Senators, which was reduced to 14 in 1984. In 2000, the number dropped to 9, but in 2008, the number rose to 13, before dropping again to 11 in 2016.

Committees

The Senate of Palau has 12 standing committees. They are:

Presidents of the Senate

References

External links

The Senate homepage

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

Government of Palau Palau National Congress 1980 establishments in Palau {{Palau-stub