Palau National Congress

Last updated
Palau National Congress

Olbiil era Kelulau
11th Olbiil Era Kelulau
Type
Type
Houses Senate
House of Delegates
History
FoundedFirst Government Est. 1955 Gained Independence on 1 October 1994
Leadership
President of the Senate
Speaker of the House
Chief of Staff
Structure
Seats31 members (15 and 16)
Senate of Palau.svg
Senate political groups
  Nonpartisan: 15 seats
House of Delegates of Palau.svg
House of Delegates political groups
  Nonpartisan: 16 seats
Elections
single-seat constituency
multi-seat constituency
Last Senate election
5 November 2024
Last House of Delegates election
5 November 2024
Meeting place
Capitol-complex-melekeok-palau20071220 crop.jpg
Olbiil era Kelulau building in the capitol complex, Ngerulmud
Website
www.palauoek.com [obsolete]

Palau has a bicameral legislature, the Palau National Congress (Palauan : Olbiil era Kelulau), 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. Since January 2025, the Senate has 15 members, also serving four-year terms in multi-seat constituencies. [1] In every elections held, only non-partisans are elected; no political parties exist.

Contents

The congress is called Olbiil Era Kelulau (OEK) in Palauan or “House of Whispered Decisions". [2] When it was founded, there were 18 senators. That number of them was changed in 1984 to 14. The number of senators changed again in 2000, when it was reduced drastically to 9. In 2008, it was raised once again, to 13. [3] Since January 2025, the Senate has 15 members.

In 2025, the Senate President was Hokkons Baules and the House of Delegates speaker was Gibson Kanai. [4]

List of elections

Palau Congressional Library

Housed at the Palau National Congress, the Palau Congressional Library was founded on August 18, 1981. Headed as of 1996 by Congressional Librarian Harry Besebes, it has a 3000 item collection, with annual accessions of 350. The library employs 2 staff members, both professional librarians.

See also

References

  1. Reklai, Leilani (13 December 2024). "New Faces, New Roles". Island Times.
  2. "LibGuides: Laws of South Pacific Island Nations: Palau". law-hawaii.libguides.com. University of Hawaiʻi School of Law Library. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  3. Welcome to the Palau National Congress Website! Archived 2020-01-03 at the Wayback Machine , Republic of Palau
  4. Needham, Kirsty (28 July 2025). "Palau lawmakers reject US request to accept third country refugees". Reuters. Archived from the original on 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.