Amid all the razzmatazz, the other election happening on 3 November

The huge white-domed Capitol building dominates the capital’s skyline, and waits to find out which politicians will be elected next week.

The two male rival presidential contenders are ready for political combat. The electorate are primed and ready to vote, as they do every four years, to choose their country’s new leader on 3 November.

Welcome to Palau, the only other country in the world to hold its presidential contest on the same day as the United States.

As a tiny spot in the western Pacific Ocean – or rather a collection of some 350 island specks some three hours’ flying time from the Philippines – Palau and its election is destined to make considerably fewer headlines than the vote taking place some 9,000 miles away at the same time, but it is not without interest, even if the electorate is considerably smaller.

The population of Palau is fewer than 20,000, and just 7,658 people voted in the first round of the election in September.

The frontrunner is Surangel Whipps Jr, who secured almost half of the votes, 3,546, last month.

A business person, he lost the 2016 vote when, notably, running against his brother-in-law Thomas Remengesau, who has ruled Palau since 2013.

Remengesau, more commonly known as Tommy, is standing down this time, which means Whipps is pitted against Raynold Oilouch, a lawyer who is also a former vice president. Oilouch secured 1,984 votes last month.

There are no political parties in Palau, so both candidates are running as independents – though that does not mean the country has avoided political turbulence, with the nation’s first president being assassinated.

Palau’s election isn’t without geo-political significance. The candidates have said they would like to continue Remengesau’s policy of making the country less reliant on US aid and more on tourism, tough in the coronavirus age.

The influence of America is all around. Whipps was even born in Baltimore.

Palau has no military and relies on the US for its defence, a relic of immediate post-Second World War arrangements. Palau only gained its independence from the US in 1994.

And it may be hard to find on the map, but Palau’s strategic importance is growing with the increase in tensions between the US and China, and the fact that the Pacific is increasingly looking like a future battleground between the world’s two major powers.

In the past few years Palau has come into conflict with China for being one of the few countries to recognise Taiwan – a no-no for Beijing.

And just a few days ago, the US military revealed plans for possible expansion in Palau, and Tommy Remengesau called on the US to build a new military base in his country.

Yours, 

David Harding 

International Editor