Nauru’s parliament has been dissolved and the government of president Baron Waqa will face voters on July 9.
Speaker of parliament Ludwig Scott issued writs for a general election on Saturday, the government said in a media release.
Australia is Nauru’s biggest foreign aid donor, giving $25m per year, about 15 per cent of the remote Pacific island government’s revenues, and it also hosts one of Australia’s two controversial off-shore asylum seeker processing centres.
In the last sitting of parliament on Friday, it also lowered the controversial candidate nomination fee to $500.
The fee was raised in March from A$200 to A$2,000, sparking protests from prospective candidates that they could not afford to stand for election.
Eligible voters of Nauru’s 10,000 citizens have until 18 June to enrol and 25 June to nominate as a candidate.
Nauru’s parliament has 19 members but five opposition MPs were suspended two years ago accused of treason for speaking to the international media.
A journalist visa application fee for Nauru is a non-refundable A$8,000 and only one Australian journalist, Chris Kenny from The Australian, has been admitted in recent years.
In February, Nauru suspended all visitor visas for Australians, claiming a journalist had tried to illegally enter the country.
The last statistics released by Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection in March reports 468 men, women and children are on Nauru as part of Australia’s off-shore processing system.
About 267 refugees and asylum seekers from the Nauru processing centre are currently in Australia but can be deported with 72-hours notice.
Nauru announced last October detainees had been given freedom of movement around the island.
