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Palau National Congress

Olbiil era Kelulau
Palau National Congress ; Olbiil era Kelulau
11th Olbiil Era Kelulau
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate; House of Delegates
History
Founded	First Government Est. 1955 Gained Independence on 1 October 1994
Leadership
President of the Senate	Hokkons Baules, Independent
Speaker of the House	Sabino Anastacio, Independent
Chief of Staff	Landisang Kotaro
Structure
Seats	29 members (13 and 16)
Senate political groups	Independent: 13 seats
House of Delegates political groups	Independent: 16 seats
Elections
Senate voting system	single-seat constituency
House of Delegates voting system	multi-seat constituency
Last Senate election	5 November 2024
Last House of Delegates election	5 November 2024
Meeting place
	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. The Senate has 13 members, also serving four-year terms in multi-seat constituencies. In the last elections, held in 2020, only non-partisans were elected; no political parties exist.

The congress is called Olbiil Era Kelulau (OEK) in Palauan or “House of Whispered Decisions".^[1] 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.^[2]

In 2018, the Senate President was Hokkons Baules, and Speaker was Sabino Anastacio.^[3]

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.