Papua New Guinea - Politics - 2007 - Michael Somare
Prior to the 2007 elections Prime Minister Somare came in for criticism over his alleged role in helping Solomon Islands Attorney General Julian Moti to avoid extradition to Australia. Mr. Moti had been accused of having sex with minors in Australia and had reportedly escaped to the Solomon Islands aboard a Papua New Guinea defence force plane. The Australian Government urged the Papua New Guinea Government to release a report on Mr. Moti's escape and subsequently banned Papua New Guinean ministers from entering Australia. Mr. Somare accused Australia of trying to influence the election results and pledged to maintain his country's sovereignty.
The 2007 elections were the first to be held under the limited preferential voting system (LPV) introduced by amendments to the electoral law in December 2006. The first-past-the-post system had been used for previous elections. The amendments also reduced the campaign period from eight to four weeks. The LPV system requires voters to make three choices in order of preference from among the nominated candidates. Preferential voting requires candidates to seek support (in the form of preferences) outside their own clans and communities while ensuring that elected members of parliament hold a majority mandate from their electorates. Due to an increasing number of candidates at each election most members were elected with less than 15 percent of the valid votes.
Following criticism over numerous "ghost voters" (deceased individuals) in the electoral roll used in 2002 the Electoral Commissioner revised the electoral roll prior to the 2007 elections. The number of registered voters fell from 5.3 million to 3.9 million. Some voters claimed their names were missing from the list.
The main opposition parties were the PNG Party led by former prime minister Mekere Morauta and the New Generation Party (NGP) of Bart Philemon a former finance minister sacked by Prime Minister Somare in 2006 following a leadership challenge. Both parties accused Somare's government of being corrupt and inefficient. They also pledged to maintain close ties with Australia which demands that the country implement economic reforms in cooperation with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The two parties announced that they would back the former prime minister Julius Chan of the People's Progress Party (PPP) for the post of prime minister.
Sir Michael Somare was elected Prime Minister in August 2007, becoming the longest-serving parliamentarian in the Commonwealth. PM Somare was the first to complete a five year term since independence and he hoped to complete a ten year term. Somare celebrated his 40th year in politics in March 2008. The NA remained the largest party with 27 seats. Its coalition partner the PAP and the opposition PNG followed with seven seats each. Former prime minister Julius Chan (PPP) returned to parliament alongside his son Byron. Prime Minister Somare and his son Arthur were also elected. The sole female member in the outgoing legislature Carol Kidu was once again the only woman elected to the new parliament. On 13 August the newly elected National Parliament held its first session and re-elected Jeffrey Nape as its Speaker. Michael Somare was re-elected as Prime Minister over Chan (PPP) who was backed by the PNG Party and the NGP. Former prime minister Morauta became the opposition leader while Philemon (NGP) became his deputy. Somare subsequently formed a coalition government comprising 14 political parties the biggest coalition since the country's independence.
Somare and Peter O'Neill, were locked in a power struggle, with both of them laying claims to the top job in the South Pacific island nation. For many Papua New Guineans, the crisis is a contest between the old political guard of Somare - known as "the chief" who led the country to independence - and O'Neill's administration, which was seen offering a fresh, more open alternative.
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