Transcript
JOHNNY BLADES: It's premature to assert that. Basically the invitation that the Governor-general extended towards the People's National Congress of Peter O'Neill was just a formality. After every PNG election it's normal for the party that has the most seats to be given the first crack at trying to form a coalition government - I say coalition) because no one government gets a full majority on its own (and the PNC is on track to get around 25% of the seats). but in this case about a fifth of the seats were still to be declared when this (invitation to form government) was extended. And yet subsequent to that (the return of writs and the invitation) the Ombudsman Commission obtained an interim court order to extend the deadline for the return of writs to Monday which gave more time for more seats to bhe declared. But all thwe same, there's still going to be a number of seats that won;t be finalised by the time the parliament sits this week.
KORO VAKAUTA: Can parliament sit for this important vote for prime minister without all MPs being present?
JB: It can. it has done in the past, but just without maybe one or two MPs. I think this time, because it looks like it's going to be quite tight, in terms of the vote for who will be the prime minister, I think there's probably a need for as many as possible to be there in order for it to be a fair vote.
KV: And there are two main camps, are there, that are trying to form a coalition government?
JB: Yeah that's right. So there's the People's National Congress which is heading one camp, and they have sort of set up camp down in Alotau, where they have been invited people to come and join the talks. In fact they've been sending chartered planes all around the country trying to get these newly-elected MPs, especially independent candidates, you know, come and join us in Alotau... The other group is based around the National Alliance pary and the Pangu Pati, they've sort of set up two camps: one in Goroka in the Highlands and also Kokopo up in the New Guinea Islands region. They're also claiming that they're confident of gettng the majority come parliament time.
KV: As you've kind of alluded to, this lobbying has got increasingly intense, even with reported attemtps at kidnapping?
JB: That's right. So last Thursday, one of the newly elected MPs, who is actually affiliated with the National Alliance, has just arrived by plane in the capital Port Moresby to be picked up by his National Alliance colleagues when he was the subject of a - is there any other word for it - kidnap attempt by a posse led by the failed Ijivitari MP David Arore who is a member of Peter O'Neill's party. They were trying to lure this new MP to their vehicle and off to talks for their camp. But a tussel ensued.. the National Alliance people managed to get their man to their vehicle. But it's just seen as this desperate new low for PNG politics. And apparently there's another couple of aleged kidnap attempts of newly elected MPs, because they're all very vulnerable everyone wants to be part of government - that's natural - because that's how you get your constituency funds. But if someone is just going to swap from one party to the next after standing on that party platform for the election, that's sort of a bit misleading to voters.
KV: And to add to the drama, we've seen on social media footage of at least one of these alleged kidnapping attempts. What was Peter O'Neill's response to all this?
JB: Unsurprisingly he has sort of distanced himself from the man who led that particular, well-publicised kidnap attempt, David Arore. He said he's no longer a member of the PNC. But he did say it's just up to members to decide who (which coalition camp) they want to go for. He's sort of alluding to it almost like an open market.he also said - in relation to questions over why police were also involved in this attempt to kind of abduct the MP - he said that police have to be around MPs as they are transported around at this stage because it's for their own security. But it's highly questionable as to why police should be involved in this quasi-abduction process.
KV: And of course that's just the latest in a string of controversies, or dubious occurrences by people supposed to be officials or in positions of power?
JB: Exactly. the same afternoon that this kidnap happened, less than a kilometre away, there was a returning officer for the Moresby Northwest seat declaring the candidate who had come third in that seat as the winner... two hours after Sir Mekere Morauta, an independent candidate and political opponent of the incumbent People's National Congress government, had actually won the seat and been declared in the formal tally room in the presence of election officials, police and media. So this declaration (of the third placed candidate) was subsequently declared illegal by the overall elections manager. But yes, another attempt by someone in power to manipulate the process. There's been a string of them, as you say, so many instances that it's created this perception that the election hasn't been fair.
KV: So many twists and turns, and dramas. This is possibly a tough question, but what can we expect this week?
JB: It'd be a brave man that would bet on this. I think what we know is that parliament will sit, and there should probably a vote for firstly the speaker, and then the important vote for prime minister. That's supposed to be on Wednesday, but again - true to form - there's been confusion about this. Some are saying it's Friday, others saying it's going to be Wednesday. and as I say there may not be all the MPs present. So there'll be additional questions about whether that's fair or not. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
