Parliament incumbents Amenta Matthew, the current health minister, and Gerald Zackios, a three-term incumbent and former foreign minister, would have won reelection based on the domestic vote, but have now lost with the announcement Wednesday of the postal absentee results.
A third Nitijela (parliament) race has resulted in a tie from the votes cast by Marshall Islanders living in the US. An estimated 10,000 of the approximately 40,000 registered voters now live in the US.
But the parliament results overall do not appear to give a solid majority to either incumbent President Jurelang Zedkaia or the opposition. The coming weeks in the lead up to parliament convening the first week of January to elect a new president will see negotiations as leaders of the government and opposition groups attempt to consolidate a majority of at least 17 members.
According to unofficial results, former senator Hiroshi Yamamura has defeated Matthew at Utrik 405-342 by out-polling her 102 to 20 on the postal absentee ballots.
Before counting postal ballots Tuesday, incumbent Zackios was leading in a tight race over three other candidates for the two-seat Arno Atoll constituency. But the postal ballot count dropped him to third, and vaulted incumbent Nidel Lorak, the education minister, to the top spot along with newcomer Jiba Kabua, the RMI’s ambassador to Japan, as the two winners.
There will be eight new members in the 33-seat house, with possibly one more depending on how the tied vote is resolved.
