PevidatticsChis
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experience in their fields. Micronesians
who assume high-level administrative
and professional duties are covered
under the higher salary schedule established for professional and managerial
employees. High-level appointments of
Micronesians have included a District
the High Commissioner, a Deputy
Assistant Commissioner for Resources
and Development, and seven assistant
district administrators.
a

Chapter 6

SUFFRAGE

A Territory-wide suffrage act for all
levels of government has yet to be

enacted. Voting qualifications are pre-

scribed

separately

by

municipal

charters, district legislature charters,
and Secretarial Order No. 2882, as

amended. In general, electors must be
Trust Territory citizens, 18 or older,
and residents for specified lengths of
time of the municipality or other
election district where they vote. Discrimination in voting based on race,
sex, language, or religion does not
exist.
Both men and women are eligible
to be chosen for elective office in the
Trust Territory.

About 44,000 persons wereeligible
to vote in the 1966 Congress of
Micronesia elections if they registered

and met other requirements prescribed

to vote, the Government has disserr
inated information on registratior
voting procedures, dates of election:

etc., through radic broadcasts an
meetings with local officials. Politica
parties in the districts, as well as som:
candidates, have also expended con
siderable effort in encouraging the:
supporters to register and vote.
The High Commissioner issuec
orders to outline the conduct of the
first elections to the Congress oi
Micronesia in 1965. The Congres:
passed an act in 1966 providing for
election of its members, which was
signed as Public Law No, 2-16 and
later incorporated into the Code of the
Trust Territory as Chapter 3A. Under
this law all eligible persons desiring to
vote must first register. A person may
register by executing an affidavit in
which he identifies his voting residence
and swears that he meets the qualifications prescribed by law. Candidates
for the House of Representatives and
the Senate may be nominated either
by petition or political party. All
elections of members of Congress are
by secret ballot, and Public Law No.
2-16 provides for supervision of polling places, complaints ofirregularities,
appeals from decisions of election
officials,

recounts

of

ballots,

and

absentee voting. Responsibility for
conducting the Congress elections is

vested in the district administrators,

who

are

designated

election

commissioners for their districts, and
in boards of election of the 21 election
districts.
Chapter 7

by law. Participation in that election
varied widely among districts. For
example, the percentage of eligible

POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS

high of 98% in the Mariana Islands
District to a low of 42% in Truk. To
make the people aware of their right

Traditional cultural patterns in
most areas of the Territory placed a

electors voting ranged from a reported

26

Part V—Political Advancement

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so awh e org

Administrator, a Special Assistant to

ghd.a Maca eee

Select target paragraph3