Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia

Politics of the Federated States of Micronesia
Constitution Human rights LGBT rights
Executive President Wesley Simina Vice President Aren Palik
Legislative Congress Speaker: Esmond Moses
Elections Recent elections Parliamentary: 2017 2019 2021
Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice: Dennis Yamase
Administrative divisions State Governors Chuuk: Alexander Narruhn Kosrae: Tulensa Palik Pohnpei: Reed Oliver Yap: Charles Chieng
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Kandhi A. Elieisar Diplomatic missions of / in the Federated States of Micronesia Passport Visa requirements Visa policy Compact of Free Association
Other countries
v t e

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (March 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Constitution des États fédérés de Micronésie]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Constitution des États fédérés de Micronésie}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia is the supreme law of the Federated States of Micronesia. It was adopted in 1979.

Constitutional drafting began in June 1975. It was ratified on October 1, 1978, and took effect on May 10, 1979; May 10 is celebrated as Constitution Day. The constitution has been amended once, in 1990.^[1]

The constitution is based on that of the United States, Micronesia's former trustee. It provides for a separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as a federal system.

However, unlike the United States, Micronesia has a unicameral legislature, called the National Congress, with fourteen senators. Four of them represent the four states for four-year terms, and the other ten representatives apportioned by population and serve two-year terms. Also, the National Congress is responsible for electing the President and Vice President.^[2] Most government functions other than foreign policy and national defense are carried out by the State governments. The constitution prohibits non-citizens from owning land in FSM.^[3]

The constitution consists of a preamble, and sixteen articles.

Article I defines the territory of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Article II ensures the constitution's supremacy over other laws.

Article III is the nationality law of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Articles IV, V, and VI act as the bill of rights for the Federated States of Micronesia, with Article V specifically protecting traditional rights of tribal leaders, and Article VI granting suffrage to those over eighteen years of age.

Articles VII-XI set out of the government of the Federated States of Micronesia, with a separation of powers among three branches—the executive (Article X), legislative (Article IX), and judicial (article XI). Article VII creates a federal system with a national government, as well as state and local ones. Article VIII separates powers among these three levels.

Article XII concerns government finance.

Article XIII consists of general provisions.

Article XIV sets out the process of amending the constitution.

Articles XV and XVI are transitional provisions.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia