Ex-premier taking on Ling-Stuckey

FORMER New Ireland premier Pedi Anis is the National Alliance Party (NA)’s candidate fielded to unseat incumbent Kavieng MP Ian Ling-Stuckey.
NA president Stephen Pokawin told a crowd of more than 1, 000 party supporters in a rally at Snafu Oval on Thursday that it was the party’s response to Ling-Stuckey’s party-hopping to Pangu Pati.
“He stood on this party’s ticket in 2017 and won,” he said.
“To party-hop is a shock to us.
“But we are going all out to defend Kavieng for the party through an experienced leader like Anis, who is from New Hanover.”
NA secretary-general and incumbent Namatanai MP Walter Schnaubelt, who is defending his seat, welcomed Anis who brought along his wealth of experience as a leader to NA.
“We need experienced people like Anis to provide guidance and advice to forward our political aspirations to serve the people,” he said.
“We are anticipating a clean sweep for the three seats in New Ireland with another strong contender for New Ireland Regional, Augustine Molonges who hails from the largest Sentral Niu Ailan local level government in Namatanai.”
Molonges has worked under Schnaubelt for more than 18 years and was picked to continue providing government services to not only Namatanai but Kavieng as well.
“When you vote SMA (Schnaubelt, Molonges, Anis) for the three seats in New Ireland, you can rest assured that we will give you a Double Dose Belhat Development.
“What that means is when a church, school or health centre receives funding of a certain amount in an electorate, the same amount will be added by the provincial government to enhance service delivery,” Schnaubelt said.
The New Ireland NA’s candidate box numbers are Walter Schnaubelt (27) for Namatanai, Pedi Anis (21) for Kavieng and Augustine Molonges (11) for New Ireland regional.

Morobe official sees rise in women candidates

THE number of women candidates contesting the 11 seats in Morobe has increased compared to the last election.
The overall number of candidates also increased.
Morobe election manager Simon Soheke said in 2017, 329 candidates contested the 10 seats and out of that total, 15 were women.
“For this year, the total number of candidates that will be contesting the 11 seats including Wau Waria, is 354 and of that total, 22 were women.”
He said the 22 women would be contesting all the 11 seats, two will contest the Bulolo seat, Finschhafen one, Huon Gulf two, Markham three, Menyamya one, Nawaeb six, Tewai Siassi two, WauWaria one and four will contest the Morobe regional seat.
Soheke said eight of the women candidates were endorsed by a political party while the others were independents.
Of the total 332 male candidates, 115 were endorsed by a political party and the rest were independents.
The total number of political parties that fielded candidates was 31.

Unagi’s daughter contesting North-East seat

By HELEN TARAWA
DIANE Unagi, the daughter of former Moresby North-East MP and Governor David Unagi, says there has not been any visionary leader for the electorate in the last 25 years.
The 35-year-old lawyer, who after much consultation with her husband, Daniel Koiam, and the community members, decided to run for office to fill the shoes that her father left two decades ago.
“We decided for me to contest because we need real leaders in this electorate,” she said. “I was looking at the leadership landscape of North-East, if there was anyone who could take on the banner.
“In the time of my father, there were services delivered, he built police stations, health centres, schools, roads and so on but in the last 25 years there has been no real visionary leadership to take Moresby North-East to the next level.
“After consultation and talking to my husband, I decided to stand because we need real leaders,” she said.
Unagi, who is married with three children, said her husband was her biggest supporter.
“This is my first time to stand for election and without the support of my husband I wouldn’t go this far,” she said.
“It’s important to always have someone who is always there no matter what.”
Unagi, who is contesting under the United Labour Party was dressed in party’s black and orange colours at the drawing of the candidate names on Friday at the Sir John Guise Stadium.

Two women candidates among 22 hopefuls in Kokopo

By ROSELYN ELLISON
TWO women were nominated to contest in Kokopo when nominations closed on Thursday, elections returning officer Darius Kunai says.
“They were among 22 candidates vying for the seat,” he added.
The two women are Jubilee Eremas, who will be contesting as an independent in a general election for the first time, and Cathleen Baragu who will be recontesting on a PNG One Nation Party ticket.
Kunai said Kokopo had about 46,000 eligible voters.
He also explained why he had to reject the nomination forms of a Kerevat prisoner on Thursday afternoon.
Kunai said it was 3.47pm on the last day of nominations when a team, led by a lawyer representing the prisoner, came to nominate.
He clarified that as per requirements of the nomination process, the election hopeful (prisoner) had to be physically present to sign nomination Form 23.
The prisoner had sent his lawyer to submit his nomination papers and to have him nominated.
“The prisoner would have been accepted as a candidate because he was in prison for a civil matter,” Kunai explained.
“As per nomination requirements, the only restriction for election hopefuls serving jail is that he or she must not have been convicted of an indictable offence in the last nine months