Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Nauru government rejects citizenship ruling

Posted at 08:41 on 26 March, 2008 UTC

The Nauru Government is seeking a judicial review of the actions of Speaker David Adeang, an Opposition MP, who they say called a Parliamentary session without notice on Saturday night.

Government MPs did not attend the meeting and it lacked a quorum

The meeting passed a ruling that MPs could not hold dual citizenship, meaning senior Cabinet Ministers, Dr Kieren Keke and Frederick Pitcher, would not be eligible to be in Parliament, thereby giving the Opposition a majority.

Government MP Mathew Batsiua says they believe that Mr Adeang’s actions were unconstitutional and the dual citizenship ruling is null and void.

He says they want an urgent Supreme Court review and intend recalling Parliament as soon as possible.

“We believe that the whole meeting was a farce, the whole meeting was unconstitutional because they had no quorum and that is what we will be angling our question to the courts to determine.”

Mathew Batsiua