Ruth Cross Kwansing, right, on the campaign trail with her team. Photo: Supplied
An aspiring independent parliamentary candidate in Kiribati believes "government inefficiencies" impede improvements to the living standards of its citizens.
Ruth Cross Kwansing is one of 18 female candidates out of 114 vying for one of 44 parliamentary seats being contested in Kiribati's national election.
Kwansing, 45, has made it through for the second round of voting from the largest constituency, South Tarawa (TUC), after election officials completed counting for the first round of polls on Thursday night.
TUC had a record 22 candidates with Kwansing one of the seven women in the running for Maneaba ni Maungatabu (Parliament).
She told RNZ Pacific on Thursday night, when counting for 14 out of 16 polling station were completed, that she was the second-best polling candidate for TUC constituency.
However, in each constituency only candidates securing more than 50 percent of the vote are declared winners.
The top six candidates who do not get in after the first of voting go in for second round on Monday.
Kiribati elections vote counting after first round of voting. Photo: Supplied
Kwansing said Kiribati needed a lot of help but it is unable to implement and deliver projects from the help it does get.
"So while you have people that desperately need water [or] we have these major issues that everyone accepts and knows are urgent but we still struggle to even implement the help or the projects that we need to successfully," she said.
She said, "seeing those struggles and inefficiencies…was a turning point" and what motivated her deciding to run for parliament.
With her development background and involvement with inter-governmental organisations as well as working on projects on water and climate finance projects, getting into parliament would mean she could bolster her impact.
"I have been doing a lot of humanitarian work and gotten to a point where I applied for a lot of grants and it is hard work. I know that at a government level you can develop much bigger projects at scale than I am able to do at an NGO level," she said.
"It is to improve government inefficiencies that create bottlenecks with international projects and international aid, and then scale the work that I have already been doing."
Ruth Cross Kwansing, right, with her husband. Photo: Supplied
Kwansing's vision for her constituency is to have health, peace and prosperity.
"You need to have health first and peace and then prosperity and then, if you have all of those in those order, then you'll be living a reasonably good or comfortable life."
Should she get become and MP, she is hoping to focus and improve the health, education and business sector, and other issues aligned to her vision.
"In 2024 we're still struggling with access to clean water. We still have people queuing up with their buckets to collect water. So it is to address the urgent issues.
"We still have challenges with our electricity and our health system. We have got to address the basic issues that are still big problems."
Kwansing also wants to focus on how the people can be assisted to become more self-reliant and generate better income opportunities for themselves.
"So they can thrive or develop in a sustainable manner and not be so reliant on government aid or foreign aid for their future security."
Ruth Cross Kwansing with her family and supporters. Photo: Supplied
Vote counting
Vote counting in the Micronesian nation Kiribati happens manually in front of elections councillors and representatives of candidates, as well as police officers.
Kwansing said she had three people watching the count to make sure that it was being done properly.
"Our counters are also counting alongside with the councillors who are counting right the votes," she said.
"If there's a discrepancy between what the councillor has written and what the representatives have written, then they will recount until they are satisfied that it is accurate and there is funny business going on."
The counting after the first round of voting has taken longer than expected due to some candidates making requests for recounts, she said.
"It is labour intensive and manual, but no one can say they are disgruntled or unhappy with the final tally."
Kiribati elections 2024 vote counting. 15 August 20204 Photo: Facebook / Tulua Kiki Timau
Kiribati has only two political parties - the ruling Tobwaan Kiribati Party (TKP), and the opposition Boutokaan Kiribati Moa Party (BKM).
The others are independents who do not belong to either party.
"Kiribati is a little bit different from other places, in that our parties are not really separated by major ideologies or anything like that.
"It seems to be more just grouped by personalities and perhaps differences of opinion rather than ideologies."
She added that as an independent candidate "with the interest of the constituency at heart" she has to "make sure she joins the party that becomes the government.
The second round of voting is set for Monday and all eligible voters will be voting again.
The final results is expecting to be released the next morning on Tuesday.