Protect the Maneaba explained

Protect the Maneaba
Ideology:Christian democracy
Position:Right wing
Religion:Christianity
Country:Kiribati

Protect the Maneaba (Gilbertese: Maneaban te Mauri||Protect the [[Maneaba|meeting house]], MTM), initially known as the Christian Democratic Party, was a political party in Kiribati.

History

The party was established as the Christian Democratic Party in 1985 by members of the House of Assembly opposed to president Ieremia Tabai.[1] By 1994 it had been renamed Protect the Maneaba, and was a loose grouping of MPs led by Roniti Teiwaki. In the 1994 parliamentary elections it won 13 of the 39 seats.[2] In the subsequent presidential elections two months later, MTM's Teburoro Tito was elected president. In the 1998 parliamentary elections the party won 14 seats,[3] with Tito re-elected president two months later. By the late 1990s the party had two dominant factions, a Christian-Democratic faction led by Tito and a liberal faction led by Tewareka Tentoa.[1]

The party was reduced to only seven seats in the 2002 parliamentary elections,[4] but Tito was re-elected as president in February 2003. However, the government losing a vote on the supplementary budget by a vote of 21–19 in March 2003 led to early parliamentary elections in May. Although MTM won 24 of the 40 seats,[5] in the subsequent presidential elections in July, MTM candidate Harry Tong lost to his brother Anote.[6]

The party was subsequently reduced to only seven seats in the 2007 parliamentary elections,[7] and did not nominate a candidate for the presidential elections. In August 2010 it merged with the Kiribati Independent Party to form the United Coalition Party.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Encyclopedia of World Political Systems. J. Denis Derbyshire & Ian Derbyshire. Routledge. 2016. 731. 978-1-317-47156-1 .
  2. Web site: Elections held in 1994. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
  3. Web site: Elections held in 1998. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
  4. Web site: Elections held in 2002. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
  5. Web site: Elections held in 2003. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
  6. Web site: Republic of Kiribati presidential election of 4 July 2003. Psephos.
  7. Web site: Elections held in 2007. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
  8. Book: Tom Lansford. 2015. Political Handbook of the World 2015. CQ Press. 978-1-4833-7155-9 .