Mason Ngirchechebangel Whipps is a Palauan politician. [1] Whipps was elected to the Senate of Palau in the 2020 Palauan general election. [2]
Whipps has a bachelor's degree in business administration and economics from Walla Walla College in Walla Walla, WA. [3] He served as the speaker of the Airai State Legislature. [3] He was a member of the Palau Financial Institutions Commission from 2002 to 2008. [4] He is executive vice president of the family business the Surangel and Sons Company under his father Surangel Whipps. [5]
Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The republic consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, while the eastern and central parts make up the Federated States of Micronesia.
Thomas Esang "Tommy" Remengesau Jr. is a Palauan politician. In 2013, he was elected the ninth president of Palau and was re-elected to that office in 2016. Previously he served as the seventh president of the island nation from 2001 to 2009. He served as a Senator in the Palau National Congress between his two administrations. In sum, Remengesau was elected Vice-President of Palau in 1992 and 1996, then president in 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2016.
Palau has a bicameral legislature, the Palau National Congress, consisting of the House of Delegates and the Senate of Palau, which both sit at the capitol complex in Ngerulmud, Melekeok State. The House of Delegates has 16 members, each serving four-year terms in single-seat constituencies. The Senate has 13 members, also serving four-year terms in multi-seat constituencies. In the last elections, held in 2020, only non-partisans were elected; no political parties exist.
Thomas Ongelibel Remengesau, also known as Thomas Remengesau Sr., was a politician in Palau. He was Vice President of Palau from 1985 to 1988, and acting President of Palau in 1985 and President of Palau from 1988 to 1989 following the violent deaths of two previous presidents.
General elections were held in Palau on 4 November 2008 to elect the President and members of the National Congress. The presidential election was won by Johnson Toribiong. Incumbent President Tommy 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 the Senate.
Johnson Toribiong is a Palauan attorney and politician. Toribiong became the president of Palau, following his victory in the November 2008 election, and left office in 2013. Before 2020 elections, Toribiong has run for president four times - in 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012.
Joshua Koshiba is a former member of the Senate of Palau. After his re-election in 2004, he became the longest-serving member of that body in the history of Palau. Koshiba was elected seven consecutive terms as Senator from 1980 to 2008.
Surangel Samuel Whipps Sr. is a Palauan businessman and politician. He served as the president of the Senate of Palau from January 2005 to April 2005, and from 25 April 2007 to 15 January 2009, and as the speaker of the House of Delegates of Palau from January 1993 to November 1996. He was born in Airai.
General elections were held in Palau on 1 November 2016 to elect a President and the National Congress. Incumbent President Tommy Remengesau was challenged by his brother-in-law, Surangel Whipps Jr. for the presidency, emerging as the top two in the primary elections on 27 September. Remengesau was subsequently re-elected with 51% of the vote.
Surangel Samuel Whipps Jr. is a Palauan businessman and politician, who has served as the president of Palau since 2021. He served as senator from 2008 to 2016. He is from the State of Ngatpang. Whipps assumed office as the President of Palau on 21 January 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Palau is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Palau on 31 May 2021. As of August 2021, Palau has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world with approximately 84% of its population fully vaccinated.
General elections were held in Palau on 3 November 2020 to elect a President and the National Congress.
Palau–Taiwan relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Palau and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Palau maintains an embassy in Taipei and Taiwan maintains an embassy in Koror City. Exchanges between the two nations range from agriculture, culture, education, fishery, medical services, tourism and water supply infrastructure. As of 24 January 2025, Palau is one of only 12 United Nations member states to have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
General elections were held in Palau on 5 November 2024 to elect a President and the National Congress. Incumbent President Surangel Whipps Jr. faced former president Tommy Remengesau Jr. in the election, and was reelected in a landslide. This was the first presidential election where Remengesau lost.
Valerie Esang Whipps is a Palauan stateswoman who has been First Lady of Palau since 21 January 2021.
The following lists events that happened during 2021 in the Republic of Palau.
Kaleb Udui Jr. is a Palauan civil servant and politician, and current Minister of Finance of Palau since February 2021.
The following lists events that happened during 2024 in the Republic of Palau.
The "Upholding the Common Heritage of Humankind" is a historical speech delivered to the International Seabed Authority Assembly, on July 29th, 2024, by President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. of Palau. In this speech the President of Palau emphasized the historical significance of 1994, marking both Palau’s independence and the ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.