Coalition partners sign election pledge

COALITION parties in the O’Neill-Namah government have agreed not to endorse candidates against each other in next year’s general election, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said yesterday.
He said this was an attempt to retain the current government coalition and maintain continuity.
This means that about 75 members of parliament will have the backing of superior government resources and each other to fight their re-election battles.
There has always been an attrition rate of 60% of MPs following every election in the past but this ploy and the increased funding available to MPs presently might mean more sitting members might be returned next year.
While this strategy might provide continuity, it is uncertain whether the structure of government as exists now would be retained with O’Neill as prime minister since the governor-general is required by law to call on the party with the largest number of members to form the next government.
There are at least two parties in government, Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah’s PNG Party and Finance and Planning Minister Don Polye’s National Alliance (government faction) with more members than O’Neill’s People’s National Congress.
The parties would have to fight hardest in the 34 or so seats which are held by those MPs not in government.
The prime minister also confided that he would have called for early election but the PNG Electoral Commission was not ready to hold it.