Lazarus Salii

{{Short description|Palauan politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = His Excellency

| image = Lazarus Eitaro Salii.jpg

| order = 3rd

| office = President of Palau

| vicepresident = Thomas Remengesau Sr.

| term_start = 25 October 1985

| term_end = 20 August 1988

| predecessor = Alfonso Oiterong

| successor = Thomas Remengesau Sr.

| birth_name = Lazarus Eitaro Salii

| birth_date = {{birth date|1936|11|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Angaur, South Seas Mandate (present day Palau)

| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|8|20|1936|11|17|df=y}}

| death_place = Koror, Palau

| death_cause = suicide

| spouse = Tina Salii

| party = Ta Belau"Embattled Island", Arnold H. Leibowitz. 1996

| education=

| relatives = Carlos Salii (brother)

}}

Lazarus Eitaro Salii (17 November 1936 – 20 August 1988) was a politician from Palau. He served as the second elected President of Palau from 25 October 1985 until his death by suicide on 20 August 1988, amid bribery allegations.[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/21/us/second-president-of-palau-is-found-shot-to-death.html "Second President of Palau Is Found Shot to Death,"] New York Times, 21 August 1988

Salii was elected to the Senate of Micronesian Congress.{{cite web

|url=https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0019/4520735.pdf|title=Personnel - Johnston, Edward|website=fordlibrarymuseum.gov|access-date=28 June 2023}} He was involved in the Palau Constitutional Convention of 1978. After the Constitution took effect in 1981, he became an ambassador. As ambassador, he was given wide-ranging authority to negotiate with the U.S. ambassador.{{cite journal|last=Shuster|first=Donald R.|title=Elections, Compact, and Assassination in the Republic of Palau|date=November 1988|journal=Pacific Studies|volume=12|number=1|pages=23–48|publisher=Brigham Young University–Hawaii|access-date=June 26, 2024|url=http://ojs-dev.byuh.edu/index.php/pacific/article/download/2847/2755|archive-date=August 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822202749/http://ojs-dev.byuh.edu/index.php/pacific/article/download/2847/2755|via=Internet Archive}} He was ambassador until 1984, when he became a senator, representing Koror in the Palau National Congress.

When President Haruo Remeliik was assassinated on 30 June 1985, Salii was elected in August to finish his term of office (although Thomas Remengesau and then Alfonso Oiterong served in the interim). Following his suicide by gunshot in 1988, he was succeeded by Vice President Remengesau as president for the remainder of his term, followed by Ngiratkel Etpison as the fifth president.{{Cite web|url=http://rulers.org/indexs1.html|title=Index Sa|website=rulers.org|access-date=Aug 3, 2019}}

He was the elder brother of Carlos Salii.{{cite book |last1=Leibowitz |first1=Arnold |title=Embattled Island: Palau's Struggle for Independence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uBcp1CguyeMC |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |language=en |date=16 February 1996|isbn=978-0-275-95390-4 }}