8 Jun 2010

Failing to find speaker, Nauru parliament impasse extended

1:41 pm on 8 June 2010

Nauru's parliament sat for just a few minutes this morning as it again failed to elect a speaker.

The government information office says parliament was adjourned until Thursday, after no nomination was put forward for the position of speaker.

That extends the political deadlock into a seventh week, since an election in late April produced an evenly split parliament.

Last week the speaker Dominic Tabuna resigned after just three days in office, saying he'd only taken the job because he believed other MPs were ready to elect other office holders including a President.

Government information office spokesperson, Joanna Olsson says during today's sitting an opposition member Valdon Bowiyogo sought clarification about whether the electoral transfer roll had been reopened as there had been claims government followers were moving to different constituencies on the roll.

But she says the transfer roll is only closed before an election or during a state of emergency.