Introduction to March 2011 Elections and Referendum on Constitutional Amendments

In March 2011, the citizens of FSM will not only be voting for new members of Congress, they will also have the opportunity to VOTE on two KEY AMENDMENTS to the FSM CONSTITUTION: Amendment No. 1 providing that all members of Congress shall be elected for a 4 year term; and Amendment No. 2 allowing for dual citizenship.
These two constitutional amendments originate from Public Laws No. 15-60 and 15-61, both passed during the 15th FSM Congress.

In order to prepare for this upcoming referendum, on April 13, 2010, President Mori created a task force which will be responsible for organizing programs and activities to help educate the general public.  This task force, also known as the Public Education for Constitutional Amendments Committee (PECAC), is comprised of eight members: Dr. Rufino Mauricio, Chairman of the Committee, Samari Suta, Co-Chair, Jesse Giltamag, Secretary, Arthy Nena, Treasurer, Kandhi Elieisar, Dionis Saimon, Mathew Chigiyal and Arthur Albert

The FIRST PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENMDNENT, which originates from Public Law No. 15-60, proposes to amend Section 8 of Article IX and Section 4 of Article X of the FSM Constitution.  The amendment to Section 8 of Article IX, which sets the term of congress members, proposes to make uniform the term for all members of the FSM Congress to a 4-year.  As a consequence, the proposed amendment to Section 4 of Article X, which defines eligibility criteria for Presidency, is necessary to clarify who is eligible from the Congress to become President of the FSM – that is the members elected at-large from each state.

The SECOND PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT, as provided in Public Law No. 15-61, proposes to repeal Section 3 of Article III of the FSM Constitution which deals with citizenship. It aims to do away with a constitutional requirement imposed upon a FSM citizen who is also recognized as a citizen of another nation to register intent to remain a citizen of the FSM.  If this proposed amendment is passed, a FSM citizen who is a citizen of another country will be allowed to retain that dual citizenship.

The following is a sample of the Ballot on the Proposed Constitutional Amendments which voters will see when they go to the polls to cast their votes: Sample Ballot

For additional information on the proposed constitutional amendments, contact Dr. Rufino Mauricio at email address: fsmunesco@mail.fm.