Papua New Guinean general election, 2017

Papua New Guinean general election, 2017
24 June 2017 - 8 July 2017
All 111 seats in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
56 seats needed for a majority

  NAP
Leader Peter O'Neill Patrick Pruaitch Sam Basil
Party People's National Congress National Alliance Party Pangu Party
Last election 27 7 1
Current seats 54 11 2
Incumbent Prime Minister

Peter O'Neill
PNC
Papua New Guinea
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Papua New Guinea

General elections were held in Papua New Guinea between 24 June and 8 July 2017.[1]

The writs for the election were issued on 20 April,[2] and candidate nominations closed on 27 April.[1]

Sir Michael Somare, the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, retired as a Member of National Parliament at the election. Somare has served continuously since he was first elected to the pre-independence House of Assembly in 1968, an unbroken term of 49 years.[3]

On 1 August 2017 Peter O'Neill was re-elected as Prime Minister by Parliament by a vote of 64–40.[4]

Electoral system

The 111 members of the National Parliament are elected from single-member constituencies by preferential voting; voters are given three preferences, with a candidate declared elected once they receive over 50% of preference votes.[5]

Election

Schedule

Important dates in the election are listed below.[6][7]

20 April Issue of Writs, opening of nominations and start of campaign period
27 April Nominations close
24 June Polling starts
8 July Polling and campaign period ends, counting of the ballot paper begins
On or before

24 July

 Return of Writs, counting of the ballot paper ends
7 August Return of Writs for Local-Level Government Elections

The Return of Writs was postponed to 29 July due to few of the 111 seats being declared. The Writs were presented to Governor General Sir Robert Dadae on 29 July by Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato, with only 80 seats declared. [8]

Candidates

The Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission reported in preliminary figures that 3332 candidates have nominated to contest the election, 165 candidates of which are women.[9]

Province Region Male Candidates Female Candidates Total
Chimbu Highlands Region 309 11 320
Eastern Highlands Highlands Region 384 12 396
Enga Highlands Region 154 8 162
Hela Highlands Region 89 3 92
Jiwaka Highlands Region 133 5 138
Southern Highlands Highlands Region 116 1 117
Western Highlands Highlands Region 95 3 98
A/R Bougainville NGI Region 68 5 73
East New Britain NGI Region 79 2 81
Manus NGI Region 52 8 60
New Ireland NGI Region 42 4 46
West New Britain NGI Region 68 0 68
East Sepik Momase Region 163 11 174
Madang Momase Region 253 14 267
Morobe Momase Region 314 13 327
West Sepik Momase Region 92 5 97
Central Papua Region 133 14 147
Gulf Papua Region 133 12 145
Milne Bay Papua Region 96 5 101
National Capital District Papua Region 128 13 141
Northern Papua Region 95 8 103
Western Papua Region 171 8 179
Total 3167 165 3332

Campaigning

There has reportedly been less activity in the 2017 election compared to previous elections, with PNG National Party Leader Kerenga Kua saying "There is less colour, less movement, and that's not good, because you need to have some level of activity for educational purposes".[10] Four people died in clashes regarding the election, with several candidates attacked during campaigning or nominations, to which Electoral Comisisoner Patilias Gamato said "We have not gone into polls yet but already people are engaging in violent activities, threats and intimidation — that's unnecessary."[10]

Ezekiel Anisi, MP for Ambunti-Dreikikir Open died suddenly on 24 May 2017 at a Port Moresby guesthouse in the midst of his re-election campaign.[11]

Concerns

The Bank of Papua New Guinea is concerned that 160 Million Kina of old currency which was stolen has the potential to influence the election.[12] There are concerns in the Menyama District of Morobe Province that poor weather conditions affecting road transport could cause issues with the transportation of polling materials closer towards the election.[13]

Significant issues with voting had arisen by late June. On 27 June, the day voting was due to begin in the National Capital District, voting in all three electorates there was delayed until 30 June after polling officials went on strike due to unpaid allowances. At least sixteen electoral officials were arrested, including NCD election manager Terrence Hetinu, who was found with US$57,000 in cash stored in his car, while NCD assistant returning officer Roselyn Tobogani was arrested after officials were found smuggling ballot papers out of the provincial election office.[14][15][16]

Voting in Chimbu Province, Hela Province and Western Highlands Province failed to begin on schedule on 26 June due to issues with the common roll and disputes over numbers of ballot papers, while voting in Eastern Highlands Province only commenced on a limited basis amidst reports that "thousands of students" had been left off the electoral roll.[14][15]

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato obtained a court order against blogger Martyn Namorong, restricting him from sharing defamatory statements against the commissioner. This came after Gamato received criticism which compared him and his surname to a tomato.[17]

Results

Party First preference votes % Seats +/–
People's National Congress Party27–27
National Alliance Party14+3
Pangu Party11+9
United Resources Party9+8
Papua New Guinea Party6+4
People's Progress Party5–2
Social Democratic Party3+2
Triumph Heritage Empowerment Rural Party3–3
PNG National Party2+2
People's Labour Party2+2
People's Party20
Christian Democratic Party10
Coalition for Reform Party10
Melanesian Alliance Party1+1
Melanesian Liberal Party10
Our Development Party1+1
People's Democratic Movement1–1
People's Movement for Change Party10
PNG Country Party1+1
United Party10
Independents149
Yet to be declared––4–
Total　　1110
Registered voters/turnout––
Source:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "2017 National and LLG Elections Dates". PNG Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  2. ↑ "Writs issued for PNG elections". Radio New Zealand. 2017-04-20. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  3. ↑ "Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare's Farewell Speech in Parliament". EMTV. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  4. ↑ PNG election: Controversial PM Peter O'Neill re-elected, promises election review ABC, 2 August 2017
  5. ↑ Electoral system IPU
  6. ↑ "2017 National and LLG Elections Dates". www.pngec.gov.pg. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  7. ↑ "Home". www.pngec.gov.pg. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  8. ↑ "PNG's constitutional watchdog intervenes after election ends in controversy". ABC News. 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
  9. ↑ "Preliminary figures show 3332 candidates nominate to contest". www.pngec.gov.pg. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  10. 1 2 "PNG's cash crunch saps colour from election campaigns". ABC News. 2017-05-22. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  11. ↑ "RA Pacific Beat on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  12. ↑ "Fears recirculation of old PNG currency could skew election results". ABC News. 2017-05-12. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  13. ↑ "EC must seriously consider road issues - Post Courier". postcourier.com.pg. Retrieved 2017-05-25.
  14. 1 2 "PNG election: Vote suspended in capital as three returning officers are detained". SBS. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  15. 1 2 "Port Moresby election manager arrested over $80k cash stash". The New Daily. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  16. ↑ "NCD Election Manager Terrence Hetinu in Police Custody for Election Corruption". Papua New Guinea Today. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  17. ↑ "PNG election official gets court order to stop blogger calling him 'tomato'". ABC News. 2017-07-14. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
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