Report commends 2007 national elections in Papua New Guinea

The 2007 elections in Papua New Guinea have been commended in a report by the Commonwealth-Pacific Islands Forum Election Assessment Team.

Between June and August 2007 members of the Team assessed “the polling, part of the counting process and the formation of the new government” as well as some of the preparation and campaigning for the elections.

“The elections were successfully conducted in all Provinces in an overwhelming atmosphere of peace and security. Unlike 2002, no elections failed and no large-scale violence or disorder occurred,” the report concluded.

Although there were some “security incidents” observed in parts of the country, such as the Highlands, the report noted that “these were handled with professionalism and a high degree of effectiveness by the security forces.”

However, the Team suggested that there are still “significant challenges” which need to be overcome in order to entrench strong democratic principles and effective election management in the country.

Therefore, recommendations were included in the report, such as the importance of encouraging domestic election observers to actively participate in any future elections, and the need to address allegations of “missing names” on the electoral roll by increased efforts to improve voter registration, including the use of receipts, identification cards or enrolment certificates.

The Team also said while implementation of the new Limited Preferential Vote electoral system was a success, voter education should be a continuous process with a mechanism for assessing the effectiveness of voter education initiatives. They were also of the view that delegating and decentralising financial responsibility would benefit election managers in the provinces.

The Team was disappointed at the relatively small number of women candidates and the continued extremely low level of women’s representation in Parliament. They urged the Government of Papua New Guinea to examine models used in other countries to increase women’s representation in Parliament and to develop mechanisms suitable for the South Pacific nation.

Paul Tovua, who is a former Minister, Speaker of Parliament, Electoral Commissioner and National Peace Council Chair in Solomon Islands, led the Election Assessment Team, which included three Commonwealth Secretariat staff from the Political Affairs Division.

The Commonwealth will remain engaged with the government and election commission of Papua New Guinea to offer assistance as required to meet the recommendations in the report.

Secretariat Links:

• Democracy
• Country Profile: Papua New Guinea