United States Foreign Relations Palau

A special Palau Supreme Court panel canceled a referendum two days before voters were to decide a new political status for the U.S. territory in the Pacific. The panel said it is illegal for Palau to establish so-called voter service stations overseas to receive absentee ballots. The estimated 2,000 potential overseas voters are about one-fifth of the registered vote. Overseas voters have overwhelmingly endorsed the agreement, which would bring self-government and nearly $1 billion in U.S. aid.

Voters in the Pacific island state of Palau decisively scrapped their anti-nuclear status in exchange for what President Lazarus Salii calls economic survival. Nearly complete returns from a constitutional amendment referendum Tuesday show that about 71% of Palauans voted for lifting a constitutional prohibition against nuclear weapons and technology. They also eliminated a requirement that 75% voter approval is needed to approve a proposed compact of free association with the United States.

Voters in the Pacific island state of Palau decisively scrapped their anti-nuclear status in exchange for what President Lazarus Salii calls economic survival. Nearly complete returns from a constitutional amendment referendum Tuesday show that about 71% of Palauans voted for lifting a constitutional prohibition against nuclear weapons and technology. They also eliminated a requirement that 75% voter approval is needed to approve a proposed compact of free association with the United States.

A special Palau Supreme Court panel canceled a referendum two days before voters were to decide a new political status for the U.S. territory in the Pacific. The panel said it is illegal for Palau to establish so-called voter service stations overseas to receive absentee ballots. The estimated 2,000 potential overseas voters are about one-fifth of the registered vote. Overseas voters have overwhelmingly endorsed the agreement, which would bring self-government and nearly $1 billion in U.S. aid.