Marshall Islands has new president

Updated January 4, 2012 09:10:16

The new parliament of the Marshall Islands has elected Christopher Loeak as the country's new president.

Mr Loeak is a paramount chief and was a member of a strong coalition of opposition MP's who have formed one of the biggest majorities in the country's political history. The funding compact with the US, Nuclear testing compensation and US opposition to free entry from Marshall Islands' nationals are likely to dominate issues for President Loeak's administration.

Presenter: Campbell Cooney
Managing Editor of the Marshall Islands Journal Giff Johnson

Giff Johnson from the Marshall Islands, talking to us a little earlier on Pacific Beat.

JOHNSON: He's a 25 year veteran of the parliament and was elected Tuesday by a very strong majority, in fact it's the strongest vote for a president in 12 years.

COONEY: When you say 25, has he held cabinet positions and all that in previous governments?

JOHNSON: Yes, President Loeak has been in cabinet in a number of occasions, including as recently as just a couple of years ago. He's been in many different ministries and significant in his background is that he's part of a chiefly family which gives him much strength in the traditionally oriented society of the Marshall Islands.

COONEY: I get the certain feeling from talking to people over there Giff that the change of government and presidency wasn't that surprising. Certainly the Opposition group which Mr Loeak or President Loeak now is part of were saying pretty soon last year after the elections they felt that they would have had the numbers?

JOHNSON: Yes, this is true. What was the Opposition put together a Coalition with a splinter group that's led by President Kessai Note and it showed in the vote yesterday with 21 votes out of 33 going to Loeak, so he had almost a two thirds majority and this contrasts with the most recent two presidential elections over the last four years where the biggest majority was three votes. So he comes in with quite a significant base of support. I think his challenge really is going to be to just keep the Coalition together, because that's always a challenge with governments that are put together that way. But a really important thing about the election yesterday was the friendliness of the atmosphere in which it happened and the outgoing president who is also a paramount chief said he would get behind the new government and help them out. I mean he went out of his way to make a point of that and it just was a very friendly atmosphere and you might say contrasted with some other places around the world, where transitions to new governments are not smooth.

COONEY: You're certainly right there. Look just very quickly, I mean positions and the main issues seem to be over there certainly the compact, certainly assistance from the US. Are we likely to see change of position on that in this new government?

JOHNSON: Well, the big issue for the new government is navigating some of the changes in the US where senators and congressmen have been calling for limits on the current visa free immigration rights that Marshall Islanders have and so that's certainly an issue that's going to be high on the agenda, but also so is the outstanding issue of nuclear test compensation, which has just been allowed to languish over the last few years, but is still a huge concern for people in the Marshall Islands.

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201201/s3401759.htm

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