2008 Palauan general election

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Presidential election

Nominee Johnson Toribiong Elias Camsek Chin Party Independent Independent Running mate Kerai Mariur Alan R. Seid Popular vote 5,040 4,828 Percentage 51.07% 48.93%

President before election Tommy Remengesau Independent Elected President Johnson Toribiong Independent

Politics of Palau
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Executive President Surangel Whipps Jr. Vice President Raynold Oilouch
Legislative National Congress Senate President:Hokkons Baules House of Delegates Speaker:Gibson Kanai
Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice: Oldiais Ngiraikelau
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General elections were held inPalau on 4 November 2008 to elect the President and members of theNational Congress. The presidential election was won byJohnson Toribiong. IncumbentPresidentTommy Remengesau was ineligible to run because he had served the maximum two consecutive terms allowed and announced that he would run for a seat in theSenate.^[1]

This was the first election in Palau in which presidential candidates ran with a declaredvice-presidential candidates.^[1] In previous elections, the President and vice-presidents had been elected separately, and the winners of those elections served as a "national leadership team".^[1]

Primary elections were held on 23 September,^[1] with two candidates progressing to the general election in November. Four candidates registered for the primary elections:

• Elias Camsek Chin – The incumbentVice-President was seeking a promotion to the Palauan presidency. His running mate was SenatorAlan R. Seid.^[1]
• Johnson Toribiong – He is the current Ambassador to theRepublic of China (Taiwan), and he was running withDelegate Kerai Mariur.^[1]
• Surangel S. Whipps – He is the President of theSenate and his running mate was Billy Kuartei, theChief of Staff for President Remengesau.^[1]
• Joshua Koshiba – He is a Senator and his running mate was Governor ofPeleliu Jackson Ngiraingas.^[1]

All four presidential candidates and their running mates held rallies throughout Palau. Campaigning also took place in overseas Palauan communities in the mainlandUnited States,Hawaii,Guam and theNorthern Mariana Islands.^[1]

A total of 43 candidates ran for the thirteen seats in the Senate,^[1] while 44 candidates contested the sixteen seats in theHouse of Delegates.^[1] A record ten women were competing for seats in the Senate and House of Delegates,^[1] with seven women running for theat large Senate race.^[1]

Elias Chin and Johnson Toribiong were the top two vote-getters in the primary elections. Chin and Toribiong then faced each other in the general election.^[2] In early, preliminary results Toribiong held a 130-vote lead over Chin, with 1,629 votes to Chin's 1,499.^[3] Toribiong and his running mate, Kerai Mariur, were declared the winner of the election on 7 November.^[4] It was reported that Toribiong had received a concession phone call from Vice-President Chin.^[4]

Surangel Whipps, Jr. made history by becoming the first Senator to win by write-in. He also received the highest percentage (65%) of votes of any senatorial candidate sincehis father achieved 73.5% of the vote.

1. Surangel Whipps Jr. (6,461)
2. Raynold Oilouch (6,073)
3. Mlib Tmetuchl (5,360)
4. Joel Toribiong (5,086)
5. Katharine Kesolei (4,947)
6. Mark U. Rudimch (4,891)
7. Hokkons Baules (4,437)
8. Adalbert Eledui (3,934)
9. Regina Mesebeluu(3,731)
10. Alfonso N. Diaz (3,603)
11. Tommy Remengesau Jr. (3,579)
12. Regis Akitaya (3,144)
13. Paul Ueki (3,044)

• Pacific Magazine: Record Number Of Women Seek Palau Senate Seats
• Okedyulabeluu: Updated results below
• Pacific Magazine: Johnson Toribiong Wins Palau Presidential Race^{[permanent dead link]}

• 2008 elections in Oceania
• 2008 in Palau
• Elections in Palau
• Non-partisan elections
• Palau National Congress
• Presidential elections in Palau
• November 2008 in Oceania

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