Palau National Congress

Palau has a bicameral legislature, the Palau National Congress (Palauan: 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 has 16 members, each serving four-year terms in single-seat constituencies. The Senate has 13 members, also serving four-year terms in multi-seat constituencies. In the last elections, held in 2020, only non-partisans were elected; no political parties exist.

Palau National Congress

Olbiil era Kelulau
11th Olbiil Era Kelulau
Type
Type
HousesSenate
House of Delegates
History
FoundedFirst Government Est. 1955 Gained Independence on 1 October 1994
Leadership
President of the Senate
Speaker of the House
Chief of Staff
Structure
Seats29 members (13 and 16)
Senate political groups
  Independent: 13 seats
House of Delegates political groups
  Independent: 16 seats
Elections
single-seat constituency
multi-seat constituency
Last Senate election
3 November 2020
Meeting place
Olbiil era Kelulau building in the capitol complex, Ngerulmud
Website
www.palauoek.com [obsolete]

The congress is called Olbiil Era Kelulau (OEK) in Palauan or “House of Whispered Decisions".[1] When it was founded, there were 18 senators. That number of them was changed in 1984 to 14. The number of senators changed again in 2000, when it was reduced drastically to 9. In 2008, it was raised once again, to 13.[2]

In 2018, the Senate President was Hokkons Baules, and Speaker was Sabino Anastacio.[3]

List of elections edit

Palau Congressional Library edit

Housed at the Palau National Congress, the Palau Congressional Library was founded on August 18, 1981. Headed as of 1996 by Congressional Librarian Harry Besebes, it has a 3000 item collection, with annual accessions of 350. The library employs 2 staff members, both professional librarians.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "LibGuides: Laws of South Pacific Island Nations: Palau". law-hawaii.libguides.com. University of Hawaiʻi School of Law Library. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  2. ^ Welcome to the Palau National Congress Website! Archived 2020-01-03 at the Wayback Machine, Republic of Palau
  3. ^ July 31, 2018 Palau's National Congress leaders vocal about their support for China, Island Times

External links edit