Peter O'Neill has been re-elected Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea after a vote in the country's Parliament, capping off a chaotic election period.

Mr O'Neill will serve as Prime Minister for a five-year term, with his People's National Congress leading a coalition of parties.

Today's sitting has been suspended as Mr O'Neill heads to Government House to be sworn in by the Governor-General.

Not all of Papua New Guinea's MPs were in the Parliament for the vote, as counting was continuing in some electorates.

Only 106 of 111 election writs made it back in time for the sitting of Parliament.

The vote was held despite the objections of senior legal figures who said the country's electoral commissioner did not follow the law during the return of the election writs and by giving the invitation to Mr O'Neill to form government.

The proceedings also got off to a late and confusing start when two candidates, Nick Kuman and Dawa Lucas, both claimed to be the member-elect for one seat.

Both men refused to move when asked by parliamentary staff, leading to commotion in the chamber.

During the session, PNG's National Court granted an order to stop both men from participating in today's sitting, which further complicated matters.

The clerk of Parliament later announced Mr Kuman as the member-elect.

More to come. </s> PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has been re-elected after securing sufficient minor party and independent support.

Papua New Guinea's parliament has re-elected Peter O'Neill as prime minister, ending a chaotic election campaign marred by violence.

While O'Neill's ruling People's National Congress party was unable to win enough seats to form a government outright in elections last month, in which counting continues, he secured enough minor party and independent support to be re-elected prime minister on Wednesday.

He has held the job since 2011.

O'Neil was declared the winner by newly-elected Speaker Job Pomat after securing 60 votes.

O'Neill's re-election marks a rare period of political stability in the resource-rich South Pacific nation that has had four leaders in six years.

But with the election tainted by poor organisation and opposition accusations of electoral roll irregularities, voter frustration, already high, looms over O'Neill's tenure.

"Emotions are running high and there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the way that O'Neill managed his first term. I think at some point that emotion will boil over," said Jonathan Pryke, a research fellow at Australian think-tank the Lowy Institute.

O'Neill's government has promised to improve education and health care but his fiscal gamble in his previous term limits his ability to meet those commitments, analysts said.

O'Neill's government borrowed heavily in the expectation Exxon Mobil's $US20 billion ($A25 billion) LNG plant would unleash a new wave of economic prosperity but a slide in energy prices saw the 2016 budget deficit balloon to 34 per cent of GDP, more than double what it was in 2012.

"The economy is a mess. The numbers from treasury show anaemic growth but in reality when you look at the data, the country is in recession," said a former government economic advisor speaking on condition for anonymity. </s> Peter O’Neill has been reappointed as prime minister of Papua New Guinea amid a shaky start to the new parliament, with a power blackout and two MPs turning up to take the same seat.

The opening of the 10th PNG parliament – which has no women despite the highest number of female candidates in the country’s democratic history – follows a chaotic campaign and election. It included violence and arson, allegations of voter fraud and bribery, and at least one attempted kidnapping.

Voting finished earlier this month but the election process was not completed until MPs from the numerous parties negotiated coalitions and voted for a prime minister. A vocal group of more than 40 MPs, named the National Alliance, declared they intended to keep O’Neill from being elected.

However, despite the results for more than 20 seats not yet returned by last week, O’Neill’s People’s National Congress – which led the tally but did not have a majority – was invited to attempt to form government.

On Wednesday morning the new parliament sat with what was believed to be the largest number of undeclared seats in PNG history and O’Neill was re-elected as prime minister by 60 votes to 46.

It came just one day after the PNG supreme court threw out an application to have O’Neill’s election in his own seat declared void.

The vote was delayed when two individuals attempted to take the seat of Gumine in the Chimbu province and refused to leave the chamber. PNC candidate Nick Kuman was eventually sworn in, despite a live challenge to the legality of the electoral official who declared his win, Radio New Zealand reported.

O’Neill is now set to lead PNG for his second term after a highly controversial five years in office. During this election he faced criticism over the conduct of sitting MPs, as opposition candidates accused the governing party of interfering with the vote.

“Regardless of the outcome of this election and regardless of where we sit on this floor of parliament, our people and nation’s interests must be our common goal,” he said in his speech on Wednesday.

“No government is ever perfect, no government delivers policy without challenges. In our last government, we admit where we could have done things better – and we make improvements.”

In his speech he also acknowledged the challenging campaign and committed to a full review of electoral processes but said it had been the most peaceful in PNG’s history.

The months-long campaign was fraught with incidents, allegations and violence, and extensive legal challenges are expected to come before the courts.



Gorethy Kenneth, a senior political journalist with the Post Courier newspaper who has covered three national elections, said this one was not as violent as in 2002 but it was “a hectic campaign”.

“One of the highland seats is still in chaos – not really bad – but they are still counting while the parliament is being formed now,” Kenneth said. “There are five seats yet to be declared, which is an outcome of a lot of issues they faced with the electoral role: infighting, tribal fighting, fighting with the scrutineers. The electoral roll was one of the main issues.”

Kenneth said much of the campaigning occurred on social media, which was more difficult to monitor, and there was a late show of support for the incumbent party.

“That’s why there was a lot of punishing and mud slinging,” she said. “There was trouble. For example, in the New Guinea islands region … a couple of people died – election related. This region, where I come from, is normally a peaceful election province.”

Four people were killed in an election-related shooting and dozens of scrutineers arrested for destroying ballot boxes in some seats.

Airports and roads were shut in Mount Hagen as counting irregularities prompted violent protests. In Port Moresby, opposition and government MPs clashed at the airport.

The Commonwealth Observer Group called for an urgent review after thousands of claims were made of people being removed from the roll and unable to vote, and alleged instances of vote buying and the misuse of government funds for pork-barreling.

Bizarre scenes played out in the seat of north-west Port Moresby, where former prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta, an active opponent of O’Neill’s, won the vote. However, the returning electoral officer went missing without signing the writ, emerging at a hotel some time later in front of a local TV news crew, declaring the third-place candidate the winner. The election manager for the district later said the signed writ was not legal and the officer had been formally replaced after claiming he was ill.

Morauta later said the nation was in “crisis” after five years of O’Neill and accused “rogue” police officers loyal to the PM of attacking his aides at the airport. Morautu suggested it was the same group accused of attempting to kidnap MP Richard Masere, a fellow anti-O’Neill National Alliance member.

According to the allegation, the kidnappers were led by Masere’s failed opposition candidate from the PNC who, O’Neill later told media, was no longer a member of the party, SBS reported.

All three members of PNG’s Electoral Advisory Committee resigned, alleging the electoral commission would not provide information for them to conduct their role.

On Tuesday the electoral commissioner, Patilias Gamato, defended his running of the election.

“People have their own opinion, they can say anything they want to say,” he said on Tuesday. “But my judgement is as long as I return the writs of 111 seats, it is a successful election.”

Gomato had made headlines midway through the ballot when he took out a court order to stop a well-known political blogger from referring to him as “Patilias Tomato”.

The incident, as well as the banning of local media from counting rooms, prompted accusations of government attempts to stifle free speech. </s> SYDNEY (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea’s parliament on Wednesday re-elected Peter O’Neill as prime minister, ending a chaotic election campaign marred by violence, which analysts fear may continue amid widespread voter unrest.

FILE PHOTO - Peter O'Neill, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG), speaks during the opening of the PNG Mining and Petroleum Investment conference in Sydney, Australia, December 5, 2016. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

While O’Neill’s ruling People’s National Congress party was unable to win enough seats to form a government outright in elections last month, in which counting continues, he secured enough support from minor parties and independent lawmakers to be re-elected prime minister, a job he has held since 2011.

O’Neil was declared the winner of the vote by newly-elected speaker Job Pomat after securing 60 votes.

O’Neill’s re-election marks a rare period of political stability in the resource-rich South Pacific nation that has seen four different leaders in the last six years.

But with the election tainted by poor organization and opposition accusations of electoral roll irregularities, voter frustration, already high, looms over O’Neill’s tenure.

“Emotions are running high and there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the way that O’Neill managed his first term. I think at some point that emotion will boil over,” said Jonathan Pryke, a research fellow at Australian think-tank the Lowy Institute.

O’Neill’s government has promised to improve education and health care but his fiscal gamble in his previous term limits his ability to meet those commitments, analysts said.

O’Neill’s government borrowed heavily in the expectation that Exxon Mobil’s $20-billion LNG plant would unleash a new wave of economic prosperity, but a slide in energy prices saw the 2016 budget deficit balloon to 34 percent of GDP, more than double what it was in 2012.

“The economy is a mess. The numbers from treasury show anemic growth but in reality when you look at the data, the country is in recession,” said a former PNG economic advisor to the government who spoke on condition for anonymity.

To meet mounting interest repayments, O’Neill’s government cut services to its near 8 million population, stoking civil unrest. Corruption, which has plagued PNG for decades, has also acted a lightening rod for anti-O’Neill supporters.

O’Neill, who came to power promising to reign in corruption, has faced allegations he authorized millions of dollars in fraudulent payments to a leading law firm.

In 2014, an anti-corruption watchdog issued an order for O’Neill’s arrest over the alleged incident. O’Neill rejected the charges, refused to submit to the warrant and ordered the watchdog stripped of its funding.

“Corruption is everywhere and things have to change. The people want a change,” Noel Anjo, a political activist who led a student protest last year that ended when police began shooting. </s> Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has formally tendered his resignation after losing the support of Parliament during weeks of political turmoil in the South Pacific island nation.

"At 9.35am this morning I delivered to his excellency ... the Governor-General, my letter of resignation," O'Neill told Parliament in Port Moresby on Wednesday to MPs' applause.

He said it was likely he would be replaced on Thursday, drawing a line under a period of political chaos. Parliament adjourned until 10am on Thursday soon after O'Neill finished speaking.

On Tuesday, an opposition bloc working to unseat O'Neill's government elected National Alliance Party leader Patrick Pruaitch as "alternate prime minister". </s> Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill re-elected, but the real challenges lie ahead

Elections in Papua New Guinea are a brutal business, but the real challenges are those that lie ahead for the re-elected Prime Minister.

On Wednesday, the country's Parliament returned Peter O'Neill as Prime Minister for a second five-year term with a healthy majority, 60 to 46.

However he did not live up to the expectations of his first term, and retains leadership of a country facing significant and immediate challenges.

The past few years have been difficult for our nearest neighbour.

One of the most natural resources-dependent countries in the world, the economy has been hammered by the collapse of global commodity prices.

The Government was slow to react to this new reality, and is facing significant pressures on the monetary and fiscal fronts.

Cash has been in short supply, and cracks are forming across the public sector.

Cracks have also formed around the Prime Minister. Numerous allegations of corruption against Mr O'Neill came to a head last year with student protests that ended in violent clashes with police.

These allegations are still slowly making their way through the courts, but have no doubt distracted the Prime Minister from the task of managing Papua New Guinea's significant development challenges and weakened economic position.

Despite the problems, Mr O'Neill entered the ninth general elections in a position of significant strength.

A masterful politician, Mr O'Neill had built a coalition government that held 93 of 111 seats, and from the outside appeared unbeatable.

But alliances are tenuous in PNG politics where there are no permanent enemies or friends, only permanent interests.

Papua New Guinea elections also typically turn over 50 per cent of sitting MPs, making them incredibly unpredictable.

This election was no different, with Mr O'Neill suffering major defections and losing a third of his coalition.

While it was closer than many could have predicted, Mr O'Neill has prevailed.

Now the Prime Minister will have to respond to the widely-held frustrations about the manner in which this year's election was carried out.

Elections in PNG are never a clean process, and in many ways are a tremendous celebration of the democratic process.

But this election has been marred by pockets of violence, malfeasance, and even the attempted kidnapping of newly elected MPs.

The most critical issue across the country was the poor state of the electoral roll, which independent observers have called "alarming".

Tens of thousands of Papua New Guineans were disenfranchised and ineligible to vote after finding their names not on the list.

This is yet another symptom of the cash shortages in government, which led to the Electoral Commission being consistently underfunded in recent years.

Despite the numerous concerns about the conduct of the election, the results have been fascinating.

A legitimate threat to Mr O'Neill emerged in a new coalition, calling itself The Alliance.

Made up of prominent opposition members, former members of Mr O'Neill's ministerial team, and a former prime minister, The Alliance got within striking distance of toppling the Prime Minister.

If they can convince their members, many of whom are independents and first term MPs, to resist the lure of joining the Government and benefiting from lucrative perks, they have the potential to become a force in Parliament.

This would restore some much needed legitimacy to a legislative process that under Mr O'Neill's first term, saw the opposition at one point reduced to three MPs and merely a rubber stamp.

Mr O'Neill has also lost a number of his senior Cabinet ministers in this election.

Despite his thinned ranks, he will need to move fast on the issues that he left behind as he entered the election campaign.

Chief among these will be the fiscal challenges that his Government faces.

The APEC leaders' summit to be hosted in Port Moresby in 2018 and the Bougainville independence referendum in 2019 will also both have to be delicately managed.

And the courts will be overwhelmed with cases contesting the results and legitimacy of the election. The electoral process must be reviewed. He will have to do something to address corruption concerns that are resonating throughout the country.

Adding to these already daunting responsibilities is the ever-present need for MPs to service the unrelenting demands of their constituents.

All of this on top of the ever-present challenge of steering Papua New Guinea onto a more stable development path.

Australia needs to be a good neighbour

And where does Australia fit within all of this?

Mr O'Neill is a known entity to our politicians and bureaucrats, and we have a strong working relationship with him.

Our obsession with Manus Island, combined with the shrinking role that our aid program plays in the country, has dramatically reduced our influence in the country.

We should work in partnership to assist our nearest neighbour and former colony to tackle its challenges, as good neighbours should.

Prime Minister O'Neill and his government have an unenviable task ahead of them.

We should all hope that this Government can learn from the challenges of their first term, and find redemption in their second.

Jonathan Pryke is a research fellow in the Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute. </s> Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has been re-elected as leader of the South Pacific island nation.

The nation's parliament elected O'Neill to a second five-year term on Wednesday by a vote of 60 to 46, after his People's National Congress party won enough seats to form a coalition government with other minor parties.

Papua New Guinea is considered one of the world's most corrupt nations, and polling there is a complicated process monitored by police and soldiers. Voting began in June, and counting took weeks. Along the way, violent protests broke out over allegations of vote-counting fraud and two police officers were killed.

The election's legality has already being challenged in court, and counting was still underway in several electorates even as O'Neill was being sworn in. </s> Papua New Guinea has appointed James Marape as its new prime minister, after a tumultuous few months in the country’s political life.

Marape, a former finance minister and sometime ally of the outgoing prime minister Peter O’Neill, was elected by MPs who voted overwhelmingly, 101 to eight, to make him the next leader.

Marape, the member for Tari-Pori in New Hela province was a key minister in O’Neill’s government and his defection from the government to the opposition camp in April accelerated O’Neill’s resignation from office.

For a time he was the opposition bloc’s candidate to replace O’Neill as prime minister, before he was beaten in a secret ballot to become opposition leader by Patrick Pruaitch earlier this week.

In a sign of the fluid nature of PNG politics, after O’Neill resigned officially on Wednesday, Marape and his supporters returned to the government camp.

The vote came after months of turmoil in the Pacific nation, which has seen opposing MPs camped out at different hotels in the country’s capital of Port Moresby, high-level defections between opposing groups, shouting matches on the floor of parliament, and finally, the resignation of former prime minister Peter O’Neill on the floor of parliament on Wednesday.

O’Neill, who has led PNG since 2011, is only the second prime minister in the young country’s history to have served out a full term.

The election for O’Neill’s replacement was held in PNG’s parliament on Wednesday. Marape beat former prime minister and opposition figure Sir Mekere Morauta.

In a surprising moment in the day’s proceedings, opposition leader Patrick Pruaitch nominated O’Neill as a candidate for the job that O’Neill had resigned just a day earlier. O’Neill initially accepted the nomination and then later withdrew his name from the contest.

O’Neill initially announced he would resign at a media conference on Sunday, but opponents doubted the sincerity of this announcement after O’Neill then sought legal action to block the the opposition from holding a vote of no confidence in him, however, in a speech to parliament on Wednesday, O’Neill said he had visited the governor general that morning to tender his resignation, prompting a vote among MPs for his replacement on Thursday morning.

Going into Wednesday’s parliamentary session, the opposition claimed it had the support of 68 out of the country’s 111 MPs, which would have allowed it to ensure their leader, Patrick Pruatich, a former treasurer, would become the next prime minister.

However after O’Neill officially resigned on Wednesday at least 30 of the country’s MPs returned to the government bloc, including high-profile opponents such as James Marape and William Duma.

Bryan Kramer, an opposition MP who has been one of the O’Neill’s most vocal critics, said that among the opposition’s priorities if it came to power, would be to launch an investigation into O’Neill’s business practices, which have come under severe criticism, including his handling of a multibillion-dollar gas deal that opponents said was a poor outcome for PNG. The election of Marape makes it unlikely that such an investigation will take place.

Kramer was not present in the chamber during the vote for a new prime minister.

O’Neill came to power in 2011 in circumstances that were later ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court. Despite this contentious start, there was a wave of optimism when O’Neill came to power after he initiated an anti-corruption investigation called Task Force Sweep.

However, optimism in O’Neill’s leadership faded after O’Neill became a target of investigations over allegations he authorised payments of $30m for fraudulent legal bills. O’Neill denied the allegations and the government disbanded the task force.

Scandals surrounding the prime minister’s business dealings have continued to dog O’Neill throughout his prime ministership, and he was forced to step down after after high-profile MPs left his government for the opposition over the last month.

“It is important that I vacate this seat, so that we can be able to move on,” he told parliament on Wednesday.

O’Neill listed his achievements as prime ministers included the country’s hosting of the Apec summit last year and the expansion of the education sectors and the delivery of infrastructure projects. He also said his government was able to improve PNG’s global image. </s> Papua New Guinea's Parliament has elected James Marape as new prime minister after outgoing leader Peter O'Neill resigned following weeks of political turmoil..

Marape, who quit as finance minister in April over a gas deal with France's Total he called too generous to the oil major, was the front-runner sources said ahead of the vote. He was elected by an overwhelming majority.

Political instability is not unusual in the poverty-stricken but resource-rich country, but Marape's defection from the government earlier tapped into growing concern over governance and resource benefits not reaching the poor.

Those concerns ultimately led to O'Neill's official resignation on Wednesday.
The parliament of Papua New Guinea re-elects Peter O'Neill as Prime Minister, ending a chaotic election campaign marred by violence, which analysts fear may continue amid widespread voter unrest.