LPV less effective: Study

By LULU MAGINDE
WHEN Papua New Guinea first switched to the Limited Preferential Voting (LPV) system in 2007, the hope was that it would bring better political governance, according to academics in a discussion paper.
A discussion paper entitled, “What has limited preferential voting changed in Papua New Guinea?”, from the Development policy centre at the Australian National University (ANU), claims that LPV has neither improved the electoral process nor worsened the quality of it, rating it as mediocre.
Written by ANU research fellow Dr Terrence Wood, economics lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea, Maholopa Laveil and PhD candidate at ANU Michael Kabuni, the authors presented a cost benefit analysis of LPV.
Twenty years on and three LPV general elections later, Wood, Laveil and Kabuni found that there had been no large impact with the change, as the system had failed to bring about the much hoped for results with positive change minimal.
Responding to a question from The National, Wood said the correlation between LPV and governance quality was that for the case of PNG, the electoral process and thus quality of governance was determined more by local cultural factors than anything else.
In other words, LPV has in a sense, heightened people’s need to nominate or vote for their own clansmen; people from a similar social and cultural background or in the rare case, led to an increase in vote buying.
The authors showed however that in regards to the last factor, there was no substantial data to back this up and so could not say for certain that LPV had worsened vote buying. “There is no data available to research or assess vote buying, so although vote buying is and has become more prevalent in PNG, there is no way to prove that this is because of the change to a LPV system.
“It is a major issue, but not likely caused by LPV,” Wood said.
Before 2007, there were fears that LPV could impose costs on the people and government meaning more expenses spent on general election, due to a more complex vote counting system.
Wood however showed that this was hard to prove because it was hard to get good data on the accurate costs of elections in PNG.

Ikumu urges candidates to set example for a peaceful general election

NATIONAL Capital District (NCD) Metropolitan Superintendent Gideon Ikumu has urged candidates to set the example of a peaceful general election that city residents deserve.
“I appeal to you candidates; it must start with you, for it is your leadership in the city that determines how people look at us in the country and Port Moresby should be leading by example,” he said.
“How you have influenced your people and supporters, should already reflect the kind of leader you are so thank you for a peaceful period of nominations.”
Ikumu said that the police were not there to fight with candidates or their supporters but to make sure the electoral process ran properly.
He said police would take necessary measures to ensure a safe, free and fair environment was created for people to vote.
“The boldness of those who chose to lead our people, that act in of itself is a noble thing.
“As I always say, leadership is something you take on every day and not just when you are voted into parliament,” he said.
“It is how you stand in the community, how you have the kind of influence over your supporters and I want to congratulate each and every one of you for demonstrating this over the quiet and peaceful nomination period.”
Ikumu said while the majority of the city were law abiding there was always a minority of people who were likely to cause trouble.
“We are not out there to fight with you but to make sure the environment is peaceful and calm, so that the voters will exercise their rights and chose a leader who comes in cleanly so everyone knows that is a leader chosen by the people.”

Peaceful nominations in province

KOROWA Pokeya was the first of Southern Highlands’ 18 regional candidates to be picked by Southern Highlands provincial police commander chief supt Daniel Yangen in the order of draw at the Mendi police station on Friday.
Sixteen men and two women, Ruth Undi and Wendy Imagu, are vying for the seat currently held by Governor William Powi.
Powi drew box number 25.
Candidates Alex Awesa, Steven Evekone and Alfred Walne were present to witness the draw while others sent representatives.
Regional candidate Awesa called on electoral officers and police officers to carry out their duties effectively.
Awesa, a businessman from Kiburu village in Lower Mendi, Imbonggu, said the province lacked many services due to lack of good leadership and people needed to vote good leaders this time and not accept bribes.
He was referring to Powi’s declaration as winner of the regional seat in September 2017 under Section 175 of the Organic Law on national and local level government elections allegedly without the completion of the elimination process.
Evekone said for a violence-free election, all candidates needed to cooperate and educate their supporters not to be violent during the campaign, counting and declaration periods.
“People from this province are seen as violent, but we are good people and this time we must show it.”
Meanwhile, the five returning officers of the districts said the nomination was done peacefully without any disturbance.

Lack of services prompts Liria to run for office

By PARKER TAMBUA
LAWYER and businessman Stanley Liria nominated on Thursday to contest the Ialibu-Pangia open and challenge former prime minister and incumbent MP Peter O’Neill.
Liria, who hails from Tunda village in Wiru local level government (LLG), is running as a Pangu Pati candidate.
This will be his second time to run for office after first attempting to unseat O’Neill in 2017 were he finished as runner-up.
Liria told his supporters during his nomination at Pangia station that the electorate was still in need of basic services.
“Despite our current MP (O’Neill) occupying the seat for 20 years and being prime minister for eight years, our people are still missing out,” Liria said.
“Villages like Wembu, Kundu and Lawe in the far end of Last Wiru are still neglected and road services are yet to reach them.
“I stand to represent those people. These are our people. Whoever wins this seat must have a good development plan.”