The Pacific Islands Forum has sent a team to observe the elections in the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville which begin on Friday.
Voting for the 41-seat assembly, the second for the province under autonomy, will run until May the 21st.
The acting Forum Secretary General, Feleti Teo, says the agency is grateful for the opportunity to observe, a role it also filled in the inaugural poll in 2005.
He says the Forum recognises that observing elections is an important exercise in good governance, which is one of the region's key objectives under its Pacific Plan.
