Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine was sworn in Wednesday, January 3, in Majuro for her second term in office, following a four-year hiatus. She was assisted by son Ryan Jetnil, left, and Marshall Islands Supreme Court Chief Justice Daniel Cadra Photo: Hilary Hosia
Hilda Heine has been sworn in as President of the Marshall Islands.
On 27 December 2023, the Chief Electoral Officer of the Marshall Islands declared the final results of the national election.
The new Parliament held its opening ceremony on January 2nd, and elected a new President, Speaker and Vice-Speaker.
RNZ Pacific's correspondent in the Marshall Islands, Giff Johnson described the result: "The vote gave Hilda Heine a second term by an absolute minimum majority of 17 votes to 16 in the 33-seat chamber,"
Johnson said that secret ballot vote involved a lot of drama.
"Just the way the ballots were read off by the Clerk of the Nitijela (Parliament) one by one was like a basketball game, one team scores, and then the other team scores.
It just went one-one up till it was tied at 16, and so you had 500 or 600 people in the chamber just jammed packed, standing room only crowd, and everybody holding their breaths for that last vote, and it came out for Hilda and she takes over from David Kabua."
Brenson Wase has been elected as the new Speaker. Wase is the second longest-serving member of Parliament, and has been a Member of Parliament since 1984.
The new Vice-Speaker is relative newcomer Issac Zackhras, who was elected last November.