General elections were held in

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 ...

on 4 November 2008 to elect the President and members of the National Congress. The presidential election was won by

Johnson Toribiong Johnson Toribiong (born 22 July 1946) is a Palauan attorney and politician. ...

. Incumbent President of Palau, President

Tommy Remengesau Thomas Esang "Tommy" Remengesau Jr. (born 28 February 1956) is a Palauan people, Palauan politician; in 2013 he was elected the ninth president of Palau and was re-elected to that office in 2016. Previously he served as the seventh president of ...

was ineligible to run because he had served the maximum two consecutive terms allowed and announced that he would run for a seat in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. This was the first election in Palau in which presidential candidates ran with a declared vice-presidential candidates. In previous elections, the President and Vice-Presidents had been elected separately, and the winners of those elections served as a "national leadership team".

Presidential candidates

Primary elections were held on 23 September, with two candidates progressing to the general election in November. Four candidates registered for the primary elections: *

Elias Camsek Chin Elias Camsek Chin (born 10 October 1949) is a Palauan politician. He served as the Vice President of Palau from 1 January 2005 to 15 January 2009. He was elected as the president of the Senate of Palau from 16 January 2013 to 19 January 2017. E ...

– The incumbent

Vice-President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

was seeking a promotion to the Palauan presidency. His running mate was Senator Alan R. Seid. *

Johnson Toribiong Johnson Toribiong (born 22 July 1946) is a Palauan attorney and politician. ...

– He is the current Ambassador to the Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), and he was running with

Delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (United ...

Kerai Mariur. *

Surangel S. Whipps Surangel S. Whipps (born 21 February 1941) is a Palauan businessman and politician. He served as the president of the Senate of Palau from January 2005 to April 2005, and from 25 April 2007 to 15 January 2009, and as the speaker of the House of D ...

– He is the President of the

and his running mate was Billy Kuartei, the

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

for President Remengesau. *

Joshua Koshiba Joshua Koshiba (born 10 December 1943) is a former member of the Senate of Palau. After his re-election in 2004, he became the longest-serving member of that body in the history of Palau. Koshiba was elected seven consecutive terms as Senator fro ...

– He is a Senator and his running mate was Governor of

Peleliu Peleliu (or Beliliou) is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu, along with two small islands to its northeast, forms one of the sixteen states of Palau. The island is notable as the location of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II. H ...

Jackson Ngiraingas.

Campaign

All four presidential candidates and their running mates held rallies throughout Palau. Campaigning also took place in overseas Palauan communities in the mainland

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

and the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

. A total of 43 candidates ran for the thirteen seats in the Senate, while 44 candidates contested the sixteen seats in the House of Delegates. A record ten women were competing for seats in the Senate and House of Delegates, with seven women running for the at large Senate race.

Results

President

Elias Chin and Johnson Toribiong were the top two vote-getters in the primary elections. Chin and Toribiong then faced each other in the general election. In early, preliminary results Toribiong held a 130-vote lead over Chin, with 1,629 votes to Chin's 1,499. Toribiong and his running mate, Kerai Mariur, were declared the winner of the election on 7 November. It was reported that Toribiong had received a concession phone call from Vice-President Chin.

Senate

Surangel Whipps, Jr. has made history by becoming the first Senator to win by write-in and he also led all Senators with highest percentage (65.2%) of votes since his father achieved 73.5%.

Elected members

# Surangel Whipps Jr. (6,461) #Raynold "Arnold" Oilouch (6,073) #Mlib Tmetuchel (5,360) #Joel Toribiong (5,086) #

Katharine Kesolei Katharine Kesolei (1942 - 13 October 2015) was an anthropologist and Senator from Palau. Kesolei was born in the state of Ngchesar, on Babeldaob island. In 1960, Kesolei was involved with founding the Micronesian Girls Association. She was also ...

(4,947) #Mark U. Rudimch (4,891) #Hokkons Baules (4,437) #Adalbert Eledui (3,934) #

Regina Mesebeluu Regina Mesebeluu is a Palauan who was a senator in the Palau National Congress (''Olbiil era Kelulau''), between 2008 and 2012. Education and teaching career Regina Kyota Mesebeluu married Augustine Mesebeluu, who was a member of the House of ...

(3,731) #Alfonso N. Diaz (3,603) #Tommy E. Remengesau Jr. (3,579) #Regis Akitaya (3,144) #Paul Ueki (3,044)

House of Delegates

Elected members

References

External links

Pacific Magazine: Record Number Of Women Seek Palau Senate SeatsPacific Magazine: Johnson Toribiong Wins Palau Presidential Race
{{Palauan elections

2008 in Palau category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results Elections in Palau Non-partisan elections Palau National Congress Presidential elections in Palau