But former PM Morauta and Philemon in

By a PNG Correspondent
Papua New Guinea’s 2007 general election has produced its biggest horror.

Out... Sir Rabbie Namaliu.

Highly respected treasurer, former prime minister and foreign affairs minister—Sir Rabbie Namaliu—lost his Kokopo Open seat in East New Britain to Patrick Tammur, a newcomer to the political arena.

Tammur is the son of former member of parliament for Kokopo, the late Oscar Tammur, whom Namaliu wrestled the seat from 25 years ago.

Tammur described Namaliu’s loss as a “sweet revenge” for the defeat of his father.

Namaliu’s defeat sent shockwaves across Papua New Guinea. It has been described as the biggest casualty of the 2007 polls.

Namaliu is a man known to exercise true Melanesian-style leadership which is one of consultation and consensus rather than confrontational.

He was the first Principal Private Secretary to Michael Somare at self-government in 1973 and had been a member of the Pangu Pati for more than 30 years.

He has held positions including chairman of the Public Service Commission and District Commissioner for East New Britain before entering politics.

On July 7, 1988 he became prime minister following a successful vote of no confidence in the then prime minister, Paias Wingti.

Namaliu is a soft-spoken person who is highly educated. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Papua New Guinea and a Master’s degree from Canada.

Voters spoke of him as:
• Quiet and intensely devoted to his country; and
• Persistent and does not practise political showmanship.

Many Papua New Guineans had hoped he would succeed to become one of the leading candidates for the post of prime minister this time around.

A new government will take office this month. Already, the ruling National Alliance Party of Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare was talking of forming the next government when this edition went to press.

The National Alliance has seen the return of several of its members and former ministers and has been leading in quite a number of seats.

SOMARE CONFIDENT

Somare is confident of retaining his East Sepik regional seat.

In the Madang province, former Chief Justice Sir Arnold Amet looks certain to win the Madang regional seat for the National Alliance Party.

In... Bart Philemon

Amet is being supported by the outgoing regional member, Sir Peter Barter, who has decided to retire from politics.

Barter served as Minister for Health and Minister responsible for Bougainville Affairs in the Somare-led Government.

He had personally asked Amet to take over from him.

It is expected the National Alliance Party would end up with over 20 seats. If that is the case, then it is likely to be invited by the Governor-General to form the next government.

Two of National Alliance party’s most vocal critics—former prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta and former treasurer Bart Philemon—retained their seats.

Both had declared prior to the election to work together to form the next government.

INTENSE LOBBYING

Intense lobbying has started and all camps are talking to each other.

Morauta and Philemon want the National Alliance out of government.

They blamed it for failing to arrest corruption and bad governance.

Another former prime minister, Sir Julius Chan is making a come-back in national politics.

He won the New Ireland regional seat and his People’s Progress Party is set to play a major part in the formation of the next government.

Political commentators in Port Moresby say it is unlikely Chan will ever work with Somare whom he formed the first PNG Government with in 1972 and together they brought the country to independence in 1975.

The possibility that the National Alliance Party could lead PNG again would not go down well with Australia.
Australia wants a new government led by the likes of Mekere and Philemon, as well as Namaliu, who has been ousted.

Australia wants to mend its relations with Papua New Guinea but not with Somare as prime minister.

The escape of lawyer Julian Moti, an Australian citizen,  from PNG to Solomon Islands and the failure of the PNG Government to take action against officers responsible has led to the slapping of a travel ban by Australia on Somare, his ministers and PNG politicians.

Somare has taken an out of court action to stop the report of the Defence Force Board of Inquiry into the Moti Affair from being published. The order remains in force.

Relations between the two countries have soured since and remained so now.

Should Somare return to power the relations between the two countries could remain cold for sometime yet.

LOGISTICS PROBLEMS

Continuous bad weather and logistical problems prevented polling from starting on time in nearly all provinces.

The PNG election started on a bad note. Poor road conditions prevented polling teams from reaching the remote parts of the country.

Lack of helicopters also prevented polling teams and security personnel from being airlifted to the mountainous regions, forcing Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen to extend polling.

Security on the ground especially in the Highlands provinces was rated as the best ever in any general election with police working side by side with units from the Papua New Guinea Defence Force and the correctional services to ensure the smooth running of the election.

Police Commissioner Gari Baki and his deputy Geoffrey Vaki led their men from the front constantly talking to voters to respect the laws of the country and rights of citizens to vote according to their conscience, without threats of intimidation or violence.

Police issued a stern warning to people in possession of unlicensed firearms not to try to use their weapons during the election as police and soldiers were ready to deal with them.

Roadblocks set up by security forces led to several high-powered weapons being confiscated and several men arrested for being in possession of firearms.

A total of 3.9 million Papua New Guineans were registered to vote but the actual number who voted could be less as thousands could not find their names on the electoral roll.

Irate listeners jammed local talkback radio-shows complaining their names were being left out of the electoral roll despite voting in past elections.

The Electoral Commissioner rejected the 2002 electoral roll after discovering it was highly inflated with ghost names.

He ordered the production of a new roll and appealed to citizens to register their names again.

Many who did not do so found themselves not being able to vote on the day.

There were also reports of double voting in some parts of the country, especially in Port Moresby.

Several people were arrested and are facing court proceedings for voting under other people’s names.

Despite the problems, the 2007 general election did not experience any major problems throughout the polling period.

The ‘hotspots’ of Southern Highlands, Engga and Western Highlands Provinces were somewhat more orderly this time than they were in the 2002 general election.