KOROR (Palau Horizon) — Supporters of Sen.-elect Elias Camsek Chin has filed a recall petition against Sens. Seit Andres and Joshua Koshiba.
Elections Commission Executive Director Baudista Rengulbai said they will start verifying the authenticity of the signatures gathered by Chin’s supporters.
Rengulbai said once the signatures are validated, the commission will schedule a recall election within 60 days from the date the petition was filed.
“The members of the commission have to meet to check if all the requirements cited in the Constitution are…met,” Rengulbai said in an interview.
According to Article 9, Section 17 of the Constitution, voters may recall a member of the national legislature through a petition.
The petitioners should state the grounds for recall and it should be signed by not less than 25 percent of the number of persons who voted in the most recent elections.
The petitioners want to remove Andres and Koshiba from the Senate for allegedly failing to abide by what the public and traditional leaders want.
The petition also said that the two senators showed disrespect to court decisions by refusing to allow Chin to take his Senate seat.
Andres, in an interview, said he respects the petitioners’ right to file a petition and will not hold a grudge against those who signed it.
He, however, said the petition does not guarantee Chin a seat in the Senate.
The Senate leadership says Chin is not qualified to become a senator because he is not a Palauan citizen, which the senator-elect denies.
Andres said the petition would not do Palau any good and would only result in waste of money.
“Palau deserves more than this,” he said. “I am only doing my job, and if I committed a crime I would (leave) the Senate,” Andres said.
He expressed regret that the situation has resulted in a recall petition. Andres said he does not deserve to be recalled since he was only upholding the Constitution and has committed no crime.
Andres said he has been a public servant for more than 20 years and that he doesn’t deserve to be recalled “over a person who has left Palau since he was 10 years old,” referring to Chin.
He also noted that Chin is behind the recall petition since he has received information that the senator-elect has been talking to people from other states and asking them to sign on.
“Even if Koshiba and I are recalled, it doesn’t guarantee him a seat in the Senate. This petition does not do him any good,” Andres said.
He added, “The public does not deserve this. We have to move on and be more concerned with Palau’s economy.”
Some 1,570 signatures are needed to recall Koshiba while 1,527 are needed for Andres.
The petitioners said they have garnered more than the needed number of signatures.
The Constitution states that lawmakers can be removed from office if the majority of the persons voting in the recall elections favor it.
A vacancy will then be declared and a special election held in accordance with the law.
