An election to remember

EXCITEMENT, fear, exhaustion and fatigue were just some of the many emotions I experienced throughout the General Election 2022 (GE22), sometimes all at the same time.
With GE22 now winding down and all electoral writs to be returned today, observing and participating in my first election in Papua New Guinea has definitely been eventful, with its fair share of drama.

Always having lived vicariously growing up, and hearing stories about how events unfolded every five years (some good and some not so good), my naïve and unprepared self was not ready for any of what took place from the day writs were issued to the final week they were due.
From almost voting, to being invited over to the private residence of a political party president, to watching men wielding bush knives before me in a fight over 20 toea; GE22 as an event, has forever etched itself into a special corner of my brain.
To compare it to a roller-coaster would probably not do it justice. I wanted the ride to end, almost as soon as it began because my quota of “fun” had been reached.
There were delays and deferments, questions raised about how one-day polling would be successful, millions spent on armoured vehicles that were sent up to the highlands and never again heard of. One electorate in East New Britain even had a low voter turnout because of a lack of awareness about limited preferential voting.
From the offset, there was a lot of mistrust between the people and the PNG Electoral Commission (PNGEC), which gave way to frustration and it didn’t help that the media was quite often kept in the dark about decisions made by the commissioner.
To see candidates and their scrutineers raise concerns about transparency at the counting centres gave me hope for the future because it showed that they were tired of years of corrupt practices and vote rigging.
I appreciate the efforts of the joint security task force in ensuring no real chaos ensued nationwide and maintaining any stints of trouble and it is truly saddening to hear that innocent people lost their lives in Enga over the greed of a few individuals.
Reports from different parts of the country of vote rigging or family-influenced voting, unused ballot papers and replaced ballot boxes at the cover of night would make one wonder whether this country was truly a democracy.
The Commonwealth Observer Group (COG), who were here well before preparations were underway, point out in their interim report that much of the responsibilities of the PNGEC could have been decentralised to other agencies.
Which is understandable considering the tremendous pressure the PNGEC was put under to deliver but on the other hand, they had five years from 2017 to prepare for GE22 and ultimately everything just felt rushed at the end.

The COG also called for funding to be released on a yearly basis to the PNGEC so that they could efficiently prepare for GE27 and although they did not state it I’m sure they were shocked to witness the distribution of money and food to voters during polling and the amount of violence in the highlands.
From what I have observed living overseas of how a democracy works, the elections are generally a peaceful period. Campaigns are moderately conservative, there are debates if necessary and people know what they are getting with the political parties they vote for.
In the National Capital District, Morobe and Madang, female candidates had made it their mission to raise awareness early on in the game about the type of change they wanted to see and bring about – talking about struggles that we all know all too well.
Of the 142 women that took part in GE22, two were victorious whilst there were a few others who comparatively did quite well finishing off in the top 10.
I am proud of all the women that raised their hands, even if the number was significantly lower compared to GE17, simply because these women were self-aware, educated but mostly tired of a system that has thus far not delivered.
Considering this was my first observed election, I would have to say that I have learnt a lot about how power is maintained and controlled and something that my father once told me comes to mind which I feel reflects our way of life: Unless those in power know or recognise you, you will continue to be left out.
The culmination of GE22 resulted in Pangu setting an unprecedented record having the highest number of MPs elected into the 11th Parliament and thus being invited to form government.
I would say the only thing to look forward to next is the fact that one of the two female MPs will be in the Opposition camp.