PNC leads by two

By ELIZABETH VUVU
THE People’s National Congress party now has two elected MPs after Charlie Benjamin was declared winner in the Manus regional seat yesterday.
Benjamin followed party leader and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill who retained his Ialibu-Pangia seat last Saturday.
The PNC, which distinguished itself as the smallest party to aspire to and attain the office of the chief
executive of the land last Aug 2, is today leading in eight other seats after
the independent candidates.
Although it is early days yet, the party was almost certain to retain the Tari seat in Hela held by sitting MP James Marape and the Kagua-Erave seat in Southern Highlands held by James Lagea.
PNC had endorsed 89 candidates running in the elections.

Benjamin had been running second to former governor Michael Sapau since counting began last Tuesday.
On Monday, Benjamin took over the lead from Sapau after elimination count 10 at 4.30pm.
Benjamin was leading with 5,437 votes, Sapau on 5,317 and Wep Kanawi on 2,973.
After the 16th exclusion yesterday, when Kanawi was eliminated, Benjamin won with 8,155 votes. Sapau managed 7,412.
Also declared is a new face in the Manus open seat. New Generation Party-endorsed candidate Ronny Knight was declared by provincial returning officer Parkop Posangat at 1pm yesterday.
He too had been trailing former MP Job Pomat since counting began.
After the 19th exclusion, when Leslie Roai was eliminated in the race, Knight polled 7,308 while Pomat only managed 7,051.
Benjamin and Knight bring to three the number of members of the eighth parliament in the 111-seat House.
Benjamin said from Manus after his declaration yesterday that it was a close race.
He thanked the people of Manus for trusting him and giving him the mandate to represent them.
Benjamin is from Bundahi village in west coast Manus. He is not new to politics as he was an MP in 1997 and 2002 when he was dismissed under the Leadership Code.
“My vision for Manus is to focus on providing quality education. Manus has the quantity,” he said.
“Over the past few years, not much emphasis has been placed on developing human resources in terms of education and other provinces have taken over Manus in this area.”
He said Manus also needed to strengthen the medium-small enterprise sector so people could generate income for themselves.