Haglelgam battles for a second term

Federated States Of Micronesia

By David North

JOHN R. Hagielgam apparently has

overcome the first of two barriers to a second term as President of the federated States of Micronesia.

As Pacific Islands Monthlywent to press Hagielgam was leading for a seat in the FSM Congress but possibly crucial votes from Yap’s outer islands were not yet counted. The poll on the main island show-ed Hagielgam leading his opponent, sitting senator Joe Urusemal, by a 773 to 554 margin.

FSM has a unique electoral system; there are 14 members of Congress, but only the senators chosen in four of the races one of each state are eligible for president and vice-president.

Hagielgam is seeking one of these seats, from Yap State. The four potential presidents are elected for four-year terms, while the other 10 senators get two-year terms.

All 14 senators, however, vote on the presidency, and that small (but crucial) election will not take place until May.

Hagielgam had won the four-year Yap

seat four years ago, but then had to leave

the Congress after his colleagues elected him President. To win another term as President he first had to defeat Urusemal who had succeeded him in the Congress.

Meanwhile, most of the members of the FSM Congress who had elected Hagielgam President four years ago were re-elected, which is a favorable portent for the President. There is, however, another factor to be considered, a fairly new tradition of rotating the presidency among the four states.

The first president of FSM (Tosiwo Nakayama) was from Truk; after his term, the presidency moved to Yap and to Hagielgam. Hoping this tradition will continue is Bailey Olter, of Pohnpei, who was elected to the four-year seat from that State eight years ago, and then went on to be FSM vice-president. In this election he won again as the four-year man from Pohnpei, and is regarded as

Haglelgam’s principal opponent.

The four-year winner in the State of Chuuk appears to be Redley Killion, but (given tha rotation principle) he is not regarded as a likely presidential candi date. The other four-year winner appar ently is Jacob Nona, who was leading the incumbent Vice-President Hirosi H.

Ismael in the State of Kosrae. Absentee votes, often a very significant factor in island elections, had not been counted in either of these two jurisdictions.

The missing votes in Yap are from the scattered and low-lying outer islands, and since both Hagielgam and Urusemal are from these islands, each is counting on substantial support in those precincts.

The Yap practice is not to count the outer island votes where they are cast, but to send the inter-island ship, the Microspirit, out to collect the ballots and bring them back to the island of Yap for the count. It is a process which routinely takes more than a week.

The 10 two-year seats in the FSM Congress are allocated by population.

The most populous state, Chuuk, gets five of these, Pohnpei has three, and Yap and Kosrae are allocated one each.

There will be two new senators in the big Chuuk delegation; Tony Otto was not re elected, and Nick Bossy retired. They will be replaced by Simion Innosenti and

lohsi Ludwig.

Political battles in FSM, unlike those in Guam are not fought along party lines.

Further, again unlike the Guam situ ation, women rarely seek elective office; none were on the ballot this year. Once the 14 senators are chosen, the political process becomes an intense internal struggle; four of the senators are both potential candidates and voters, while the other 10 are simply voters. All 14 will be busy in the weeks to come. □