16 Jul 2010

PNG academic predicts political instability to come

8:58 am on 16 July 2010

A Papua New Guinea academic says the country could be in for a sustained period of political instability after a Supreme Court ruling that parts of the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates were unconstitutional.

The law would have stopped members from voting against a party resolution.

They could not vote to remove a Prime Minister through a no-confidence vote if their party had earlier supported him.

Lobbying for a change in government leadership has intensified following the ruling as reports emerge about a growing split in the ruling National Alliance party of Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.

Alphonse Gelu of the National Research Institute says there is a real prospect of a return to the political chaos that hampered PNG politics before 2002.

"That was the period where there was no loyalty at all to political parties. It will be political chaos in the sense that will no longer be any continuity in long term policies or programmes."