Can PNG learn from its mistakes?

LAST week the Commonwealth election observers, led by former New Zealand Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, presented their preliminary findings.
The report outlined some of the key process issues which the Electoral Commission was encouraged to look at.
In the coming days and months, we will delve further into the details and for the new government to make a real commitment to improving our electoral processes.
The frustrating aspect is very simple – that the same mistakes have been repeated over and over again in all the past nine elections.
But we have learnt nothing.
From the observations of respected citizens, including Sir Michael Somare, this election is termed “failed” and the worst of all general elections we have had as a nation.
As a way forward, I would suggest that the Election Advisory Committee be reconvened to do a post-mortem of the election and present its findings to the governor-general or parliament.
What really needs to come out of this review is not just the effects and outputs we see in terms of failed processes but uncover the ‘real programme theory’ behind this election. For those not familiar with programming, this is to uncover the underlining reason and determinants on which this election was built on.
If the election was “designed failure” then this review should uncover it and put things in perspective.

Wekilofo Digani
Waigani, NCD