At stake in this Referendum:

• Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Nauru.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Marcus STEPHEN
• Head of Government: President Marcus STEPHEN
• Assembly: Nauru has a unicameral Parliament with 18 seats. ***

*** Elections in Nauru are formally non-partisan. Nauru uses a modified Borda Count system called the Dowdall system. Key differences from the theoretical Borda system are that (1) this is applied in multimember constituencies and (2) the values assigned to a voter's preferences are fractions of a full point. (e.g. A voter's first preference carries a value of 1, her third preference a value of 1/3, and so on.) As with a single-winner Borda system, the N candidates with the highest vote totals win N seats in each district. There are seven two-seat districts and one four-seat district. A voter must use all her rankings for her ballot to be valid.

Main provisions in the Referendum:

• Whether to ratify several amendments to the Constitution of Nauru. These include whether the President should be elected directly (Parliament would be bound to nominate not fewer than two candidates. The election would have to be within 28 days of legislative elections. The President would continue in office until another President was elected); whether to create and modify various rights and entitlements; whether the government should be obliged to educate citizens about the constitution; and whether to create a Council of State, which would assume the functions of government in various emergencies.

Electoral Requirements

• Approval by two thirds of voters.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 10,025 (2010)
• Registered Voters: 5,238 (April 2008)

Gender Data:

·         Is Nauru a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Nauru ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (23 June 2011)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 0

·         Human Development Index Position: N/A

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Nauru a signatory to CRPD: No

·         Has Nauru ratified CRPD: Yes (27 June 2012)

·         Population with a disability: 1,503 (est.)