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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,” the report said. “Unlike
2002, no elections failed and no large-scale violence or disorder
occurred,” it 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 were still “significant
challenges”, which needed 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 (LPV) 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 joint 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 PNG.
Paul Tovua, a former State minister, Speaker of Parliament, electoral
commissioner and National Peace Council chairman in Solomon Islands, led
the election assessment team, which included three Commonwealth
Secretariat staff from the political affairs division.
The Commonwealth team will remain engaged with the Government and
Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea to offer assistance as required
to meet the recommendations in the report. – PNS
 
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