2023 Marshallese constitutional referendum

A constitutional referendum was held in the Marshall Islands on 20 November 2023, alongside general elections. Citizens voted on amendments to the constitution proposed by parliament and approved by the convention elected in 2017.

Proposed changes

The following are the changes that are proposed in the referendum per the Referendum (Constitutional Amendment) Act 2018:

• Article XI, Citizenship
  • Section 2, Persons who may be Registered as Citizens
    • Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1b: "that he has been resident in the Republic for not less than 3 years, and is the parent of a child who is a citizen of the Republic;" changed to "that he has been a resident in the Republic for not less than 10 years, is the parent of a child who is a citizen of the Republic, and is married to the parent of that child, which parent is also citizen of the Republic". For this purpose, "marriage" is defined as "between a non-citizen and a citizen of the Republic solemnized pursuant to law but does not include a customary marriage."
• Adding that in addition to the Traditional Rights Court being "limited to the determination of questions relating to titles or to land rights or to other legal interests depending wholly or partly on customary law and traditional practice in the Republic of the Marshall Islands", that it has original jurisdiction in these cases. Decisions of this court can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
• Disallowing the Attorney General from interfering in "proceedings brought by the office of the Ombudsman relating to fraud, misuse of public funds, misconduct in office, abuse of office, bribery, corruption, or other ethical conduct contrary to law by any elected or high officials, and for seeing to it that the laws are faithfully executed". For this purpose, "high officials" means "any public officials who, because of his official status, is under special obligations that an ordinary person is not, and include any person in position of authority in public statutory or corporate bodies, entities, authorities who have fiduciary duties with respect to public property or monies"
• Adding the position of Ombudsman. The Speaker of the Nitijela will nominate (with the approval of the Nitijela) the position, with the President being the official appointer. The Ombudsman is independent from other authorities, and may hold the position indefinitely during good behavior until a mandatory retirement age of 72 ("unless, in the case of an Ombudsman who is not a citizen of the Republic, the Ombudsman has been appointed for a term of one or more years"), and will report at least once a year to the Nitijela. The Ombudsman can resign by doing so in writing to the Speaker, but cannot be "removed or suspended from office except on the like grounds and in the like manner as a judge of the High Court or of the Supreme Court". After serving as Ombudsman, a person becomes ineligible to be appointed to "any other office in the service of the Republic" for three years after leaving office. The Ombudsman will "investigate and may prosecute any fraud, misuse of public funds, misconduct in office, abuse of office, bribery, corruption, or other ethical conduct contrary to law by elected or high officials" in addition to any other duties and powers conferred on them by law.
• Adding that in order to be a candidate for the legislature, a qualified person must "have land rights by birth and be a natural born citizen". In this case, a natural born citizen means "a person who, at the time of birth, has a jowi from his mother or father and is a citizen pursuant to subparagraph (a) of paragraph 2 of Section 1 of Article XI"
• Adding that for purposes of the legislature, the claimed territory of Enen Kio shall be "included in the electoral district with which it is most closely associated, pursuant to the customary law or any traditional practice"
• Grouping Enewetak with Ujelang for purposes of the sending of one Iroijlaplap to the Council of Iroij
• Increasing the number of members of the Council of Iroij by one with the addition of a new member from Mili Atoll