It's one of the smallest voting populations in the world.

Key points: Australian aid and payment for offshore detention are vital for Nauru's economy

Australian aid and payment for offshore detention are vital for Nauru's economy Opposition politicians claim they have been forced to flee the tiny nation in recent years

Opposition politicians claim they have been forced to flee the tiny nation in recent years Authorities already face accusations of misconduct, including awarding Chinese people citizenship

Today, the citizens of Nauru will head to the polls, with the choice of MPs in the hands of barely 7,000 people.

Baron Waqa — the microstate's 59-year-old President since 2013 — will fight to retain the top job.

While Mr Waqa's Government favours keeping Australia's offshore processing centre open in Nauru, a change of Government could have major implications for Australian asylum policy.

His Government, meanwhile, stands accused of handing out citizenship to foreign workers to secure a third term in office.

Here's what you need to know as Nauruans cast their ballots.

How will the elections be conducted?

Nauru is the world's smallest republic and the third-smallest country behind only the Vatican City and Monaco. With a population of only 11,200, some 7,000 eligible voters will choose from 60 candidates to elect 19 members of Parliament.

The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) will send officials from the Cook Islands' and Solomon Islands' respective electoral commissions as observers, supported by officials from the PIF Secretariat.

A Nauru Electoral Commission staff member provides information to a voter. ( YouTube: Nauru Electoral Commission )

Dame Meg Taylor, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General, in a statement thanked Nauru's Electoral Commission for the invitation to observe the polls.

"Nauru has consistently invited the Pacific Islands Forum and other international organisations to observe Parliamentary General Elections," she said.

"I commend this commitment to electoral integrity and transparency."

The island nation's last elections in 2016 were declared free, fair and transparent by international observers.

According to US democracy watchdog Freedom House, Nauruans "generally enjoy political rights and civil liberties, though the government has taken steps to sideline its political opponents, and corruption is a serious problem."

First results of the 2019 election are expected on Sunday morning, with final results to be released no later than Monday.

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What's at stake?

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"My government won the last election by making a commitment to the Nauruan people that we would be a transparent and accountable administration," Mr Waqa said in a statement on Thursday.

"We are continuing to build the finances of our nation and have set up Nauru for future generations," he said, adding that the Government had delivered surplus budgets and "transformed the economy".

Two days before the election, Mr Waqa also announced payments of up to $10,000 to 734 "vulnerable" Nauruans impacted by the collapse of the Bank of Nauru — which occurred back in 2006.

Among the candidates contesting the election were Mathew Batsiua and Squire Jeremiah, who were previously kicked out of Parliament for public criticism of the President.

They are members of the so-called Nauru 19, a group of protesters who rallied outside Nauru Parliament in 2015 after several MPs were dismissed for criticising Mr Waqa's government in interviews with international media.

Sprent Dabwido is pictured here with his wife Luci. ( Supplied )

Absent from the ballot paper is the late former president, Sprent Dabwido, who died aged 46 in Armidale, New South Wales earlier this year. Mr Dabwido's family accuses the Government of preventing him from leaving Nauru for many months to seek potentially lifesaving treatment for cancer.

His widow Luci, who Mr Dabwido married just weeks before his death, says many voters may be influenced by the way their former leader was treated.

"The Nauruan people will need to speak up, especially for the people in his constituency where my husband Sprent had been serving and representing," she told the ABC.

"Will he be remembered and honoured or forgotten? All his hard work, sacrifice and legacy will show in how they vote."

Mathew Batsiua (L) was arrested following the anti-government protests. ( Supplied )

What does it mean for Australia?

Nauru became the site of Australia's first offshore processing centre in 2001 under the so-called "Pacific solution".

The country now draws a significant proportion of its revenue from the visa fees it charges Australia per asylum seeker, payments and taxes associated with the regional processing centre, as well as aid.

Narau's President Baron Waqa and Scott Morrison after the 2018 APEC forum. ( AAP: Mick Tsikas )

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia's aid contribution of $26.1 million accounted for 16 per cent of the Nauruan Government's budget for 2017-18.

There were 304 asylum seekers and refugees remaining on Nauru as of July 31, according to a submission by the Department of Home Affairs to a Senate inquiry into the so-called "medevac bill", which allows people in offshore processing to be transferred to the Australian mainland for treatment if referred by a doctor.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed earlier this year that all refugee children had been removed from the island.

In July, a Federal Court judge raised concerns that Australia was prioritising positive relations with Nauru over the wellbeing of refugees.

Mr Waqa is in favour of keeping the regional processing system going, stating in September last year that refugee children were "free to roam around they make friends with Nauruan kids. Just like kids around the world they're all happy."

A change of government and policy could put a spanner in the works for Australian policy, however.

"There are serious ongoing concerns about adequate health care and a range of services provided [to refugees on Nauru]," said Madeline Gleeson, a lawyer and researcher from the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales.

Medecins Sans Frontieres said in December last year that 30 per cent of the asylum seekers and refugees it had cared for on Nauru had attempted suicide.

"Nauru is a small, enclosed community," Ms Gleeson added.

"It was one thing when the asylum seekers were locked up and detained in detention centres, but since the move into the community, there are issues that have started to arise."

Offshore processing of asylum seekers on Nauru has long been controversial in Australia. ( ABC News: Jessica Kidd )

Accusations of misconduct

Many critics of Mr Waqa's Government have alleged that foreigners have been given Nauruan citizenship so that they can vote for the current Administration.

One Nauru-born campaign worker told the ABC that these new citizens are mainly Chinese people employed by the Government.

Nauru's Government stands accused of granting citizenship to foreigners for political reasons. ( Wikimedia Commons )

"It's been posted on Facebook, new names of these Chinese people," said a former Treasury worker who was dismissed for criticising Mr Waqa's Government, who asked to remain anonymous.

"They've been approached with some sort of application with a police clearance and medical check-ups, and it's just like that, overnight you're a citizen."

Electoral rolls published online show about 118 new names on the ballot. Given that each seat in Nauru is counted in the low hundreds, an extra 100 votes could have significant implications for the result.

"Recently there have been discussion about new citizens and whether I would include them on the electoral roll," said Joseph Cain, Nauru's electoral commissioner, in a statement on August 10.

"The gazette for these new citizens was published at 16.58 on 3 August, two minutes before the roll closed. Because the gazette was published before the close of the roll, I am required to obey the law and place these new citizens on the electoral roll."

Mr Waqa stands with a mascot at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018. ( ABC News: Richard Ewart )

Roland Kun, a former Nauru government minister and son of a former president, told the ABC there was "a big question of legality and constitutionality".

"They are on the electoral roll and people have not had any opportunity to question and contest, because that happened at the eleventh hour."

Mr Kun was suspended by Parliament while in Opposition in 2014 for criticising Mr Waqa's government in international media. He later fled to New Zealand where he has been granted citizenship.

Nauru's Justice Minister David Adeang. ( Supplied )

Mr Kun also said that although nobody in Government is prepared to admit it, Nauru's Finance Minister David Adeang is out to topple Mr Waqa.

"In Baron's constituency there is another candidate who has been put up by David Adeang, and he's putting his support behind that candidate instead of his colleague in government," he said.

Requests for comment from the Nauru Government on the conduct of the election have been consistently declined and the ABC has been told that Mr Adeang "doesn't do interviews".