From Truk to Chuuk

Federated States Of Micronesia

TRUK, the most populous state in the Federated States of Mic ronesia, has a new name (Chuuk), a new constitution, and a new Governor.

Gideon Doone, the embattled incum bent Governor, who shrugged off im peachment proceedings, and survived the first round of a two-round election process, was defeated in the runoff elec tion April 3 by former FSM Senator Sasao Gouland. The final, but unofficial tally was 11,243 for Gouland and 9916 for Doone. Special arrangements were made so that Chuukese who live else where, such as in Guam and in the Northern Marianas, were able to cast absentee ballots.

Four years earlier Doone defeated Gouland in the runoff for the gov

ernorship.

This year’s gubernatorial runoff was just the most recent of a series of politic al events in the area. Truk has been dropped for Chuuk. Similarly, the prin cipal island, formerly Moen is now Wenn.

The old state constitution had a single body legislature. The new one has a 10member Senate and a 28-member House of Representatives. The new members of these two bodies were elected on March 6.

Chuuk not only has a new constitution for the state, its voters have recently elected a set of delegates to help draft a new constitution for FSM. That body consists of an odd-number of members, 25 elected ones, and six traditional leaders; the latter include two each from Chuuk, Pohnpei and Yap, but none from Kpsrae, where no seats were set aside for chiefs.

Among Chuuk’s delegates to the con stitutional convention will be for the for mer President of FSM, the founding President, Tosiwo Nakayama. Nakayama came in third in Chuuk’s at-large ballot ting for delegate, but that was good enough to secure a seat as a delegate.

Nakayama, his friends and relatives, played a major role in the governor’s race as well, since Senator Gouland is his

son-in-law.

Gouland and Doone were among four candidates seeking the Chuuk gov ernorship who went into the first-round of elections on March 6. Eliminated in that election was the sitting Lt. Gov ernor, Bob Mori, and Kasio Mida, a Nakayama associate who had held the Job of FSM liaison officer in Honolulu.

One of the principal issues in both the initial and the runoff elections was the sustained impeachment trial of Doone.

Under the old Truk state constitution, the unicameral legislature had the power

to initiate impeachment proceedings

against a sitting Governor, with a panel of three judges assigned to hear the charges. If one or more of the charges were sustained, the Governor would be removed from office.

The legislature voted 21 charges against Doone last year; the prosecutors dropped nine of them, and the court dropped eight more (often on the grounds that they needed level of proof could not be secured). This left only four to be decided by the three presid

ing judges.

The judges found Doone innocent of these four charges, and his temporary suspension as Governor was ended. □