Tuvaluans vote against Republic

April 30, 2008

A referendum was held in Tuvalu on Wednesday, April 30th, asking eligible voters in Tuvalu whether they wished to have a president as Head of State, or continue with the current constitutional monarchy.

According to Radio Tuvalu, the results were in favour of the constitutional monarchy, 1260 for and 679 against.

The turn out of voters was very low, only 1939 ballots were were counted. There are approximately 9,000 eligible voters in the nine islands of Tuvalu.

In contrast, 8,501 votes were cast in the August 2006 general election.