Voting in ‘Nauru’ today

July 9, 2016 Naresh Sagar

Voting to elect a new government on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru is today

Nauru’s government rejected the majority of the UN criticism which are United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights did urged Nauru to take action to improve its standing in a range of areas including freedom of expression, the independence of the judiciary and crackdowns on media access.

Opposition politicians had told Pacific Beat they had been prevented from holding public rallies ahead of the election, and that they could not advertise or campaign in local government-owned media.”The government is using the government media, the local media to put out propaganda and to put out ads, and we do not have access to the same facilities,” said former president and opposition candidate Sprent Dabwido.”We’ve put in requests and we haven’t heard back from them.”

Nauru Government labelled the claims “childish and desperate political point scoring”, and said no political advertising is allowed to be broadcast on Nauruan radio or television.”It is laughable how that they are attempting to use foreign media to make untrue claims against this Government,” Nauru’s communications minister Shadlog Bernicke said.

Sixty seven  candidates vying for support from just under 8000 registered voters for the 19 seats in parliament in Nauru,

The island also hosts a controversial detention centre housing asylum seekers on behalf of Australia – its biggest foreign aid contributor. Under Australian law, anyone intercepted trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing offshore.

The detention centre houses about 500 people and has been widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights agencies for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse. Many staying there have self-harmed.

Political instability has plagued Nauru, with reports of frequent government crackdowns on dissent.The election is being monitored by international observers for the first time in 12 years, including a team from The Commonwealth led by the former president of Kiribati Anote Tong, the government of Nauru said.

‘The success of these elections will depend on every individual playing their part to ensure the process is inclusive, transparent and peaceful,’ Tong said in a statement on Saturday.

The Commonwealth observer team is expected to issue a report on the credibility of the elections before July 13. Media agencies