TARAWA - Kiribati’s pro-China President retained his parliamentary seat in a landslide, according to the first results of an election that hinged heavily on worries about the cost of living, rising sea levels and closer ties with Beijing.

       Results posted by the Pacific nation’s Ministry of Culture and Internal Affairs on Aug 15 showed Mr Taneti Maamau won his Onotoa seat with almost 83 per cent of the vote.

       The endorsement puts the 63-year-old in a strong position to extend his almost decade-long tenure as president in a separate vote later in 2024.

       The Aug 14 election was seen, in part, as a referendum on Mr Maamau’s embrace of Beijing.

       In 2019, Mr Maamau ditched relations with Taiwan, betting that ties with the world’s second-largest economy would help Kiribati meet ambitious 2036 development goals.

       The move provoked concern in the United States and its allies over China’s diplomatic and military ambitions in the Pacific.

       His chief rival, opposition leader Tessie Lambourne, also won her seat on Aug 15, garnering more than 50 per cent of the vote and avoiding a second-round run-off despite a tough race.

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       Earlier in 2024, Mr Maamau sacked and effectively deported Ms Lambourne’s Australian-born partner, Mr David Lamborne, then a High Court judge.

       Parliament will sit on Sept 13, when a new Speaker and candidates for the presidential election will be chosen.

       Kiribati’s people will then go back to the polls in a separate vote to choose the president.

       Low-lying Kiribati faces a raft of economic and environmental challenges. The minimum wage is AUD$1.50 per day (S$1.31) and unemployment rates remain high.

       Ms Ruth Cross Kwansing, a candidate for the South Tarawa region, said the Pacific nation faces high prices because imports must be shipped to Fiji before coming to Kiribati.

       “Without anything to export, it’s a one-way street, which pushes up the price of containers and that’s passed on to the cost of goods,” she told AFP.

       Consumer prices rose more than nine per cent in 2023, according to official data.

       Water supplies were also dwindling, particularly with a drought expected in the coming months, Ms Cross Kwansing said.

       Most people collect their water from a public water point but cannot access it every day, she said.

       Economic challenges aside, Kiribati is also threatened by rising sea levels that now regularly taint drinking water supplies.

       Groundwater in Kiribati is up to 2m deep and is easily contaminated by saltwater inundation, as well as human and livestock waste.

       Aid agency ChildFund surveyed 1,875 houses in 2021 and found 73 per cent had water that was unsafe or likely unsafe to drink due to bacterial contamination.

       While desalination plants are expected to be built across the islands, it could be years before regular clean water is available to households.

       It is also unclear how the water will reach homes, Ms Cross Kwansing said.

       With outer atolls already under threat from coastal erosion, Ms Tinaai Kaboua, a travel agent based in the capital Tarawa, said overcrowding further exacerbates supply issues.

       “The cost of imported food is very high, but we manage. In Tarawa, some places have water contamination,” she told AFP.

       “There is a water company that brings water from big water tanks that comes every second day. It’s not really enough for things like cooking and drinking.

       “The main thing is we need more water tanks to help us.” AFP