James Marape to become PNG's new Prime Minister after Peter O'Neill's resignation

After weeks of political unrest, Papua New Guinea will swear in a new Prime Minister in former finance minister James Marape.

Mr Marape's resignation six weeks ago, over differences in economic policy, fuelled the mass defection from former prime minister Peter O'Neill's government.

Mr O'Neill was forced to resign after losing the support of a majority of MPs, ahead of an opposition vote of no confidence.

Over the past month, Mr Marape led the defections from the Government to the opposition side, but after Mr O'Neill's formal resignation yesterday, he brought his supporters back to the ruling coalition.

Mr Marape beat fellow prime ministerial nominee Sir Mereke Mourata 101-8 in Parliament, when a vast majority of the opposition crossed the floor in his support.

He is the Member for Tari-Pori in New Hela Province and served as finance minister until April 29.

More to come. </s> SYDNEY--Papua New Guinea has elected influential lawmaker James Marape to succeed Peter O'Neill as prime minister.

Mr. O'Neill, who led the resource-rich but tumultuous Pacific nation for seven years, said Sunday that he was stepping down following weeks of political turmoil and government defections over his handling of various budget and health crises.

Mr. Marape was among those who defected to political opponents over a contentious multibillion-dollar gas project signed in April with France's Total and America's Exxon Mobil. He returned to the ruling coalition after Mr. O'Neill's resignation. </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. </s> James Marape announced as PNG's new Prime Minister after Peter O'Neill's resignation

After weeks of political unrest, Papua New Guinea has a new Prime Minister, with James Marape voted into the country's top job.

Former prime minister Peter O'Neill was forced to resign after losing the support of a majority of MPs.

Over the past month, Mr Marape has led the defections from the Government to the opposition side, but after Mr O'Neill's formal resignation he brought his supporters back to the ruling coalition.

Mr Marape beat fellow prime ministerial nominee Sir Mereke Mourata 101-8 in Parliament, as a vast majority of the opposition crossed the floor in his support.

Mr Marape is the Member for Tari-Pori in New Hela Province and served as finance minister until April 29.

His resignation helped fuel the political turmoil that forced Mr O'Neill to resign from office.

More to come. </s> James Marape sworn in as Papua New Guinea's prime minister

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — Former Papua New Guinea Finance Minister James Marape has been sworn in as the country's new prime minister, following the resignation of Peter O'Neill last week.

Local media reported that the PNG parliament voted overwhelmingly for Marape on Thursday.

Marape told reporters that he doesn't have all the answers for the country, but would do his best to mobilize the talents of members of government, the opposition, and "more importantly, talents from the greater Papua New Guineans out there."

O'Neill resigned last Sunday after seven years on the job. His announcement followed weeks of high-profile defections from his government to the opposition. </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> PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — Former Papua New Guinea Finance Minister James Marape has been sworn in as the country’s new prime minister, following the resignation of Peter O’Neill last week.

Local media reported that the PNG parliament voted overwhelmingly for Marape on Thursday.

Marape told reporters that he doesn’t have all the answers for the country, but would do his best to mobilize the talents of members of government, the opposition, and “more importantly, talents from the greater Papua New Guineans out there.”

O’Neill resigned last Sunday after seven years on the job. His announcement followed weeks of high-profile defections from his government to the opposition.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> James Marape is PNG's new Prime Minister after Peter O'Neill's resignation

Updated

Papua New Guinea's former finance minister James Marape has been elected as the Pacific nation's new Prime Minister after weeks of political unrest.

Key points: Mr Marape said he will review several major resource projects

He also used his maiden speech to talk up plans to carry out major reforms with the public sector

His appointment as the eighth Prime Minister of PNG comes a day after Mr O'Neill resigned

Mr Marape, a former ally of outgoing prime minister Peter O'Neill, received an overwhelming majority of 101 votes to eight in the Parliament in Port Moresby.

In his maiden speech, he declared he wanted PNG to be "the richest black Christian nation" in the world and committed to reviewing resource laws.

Mr Marape had led a series of high-profile defections from the former government, and had raised concerns about key projects, including the recently negotiated $US13 billion ($18.8 billion) Papua LNG project, which is set to double exports.

He told the ABC that he would review several major resource projects.

"We're not here to break legally binding project agreements but those project agreements must be sanctioned by law, if they have every tick ticked off, as prescribed by laws governing our nation, then they will stand the test of scrutiny," he said.

"But if we find that any project agreement, whether it's PNG LNG project, or any project for that matter that has not fully prescribed provisions of law, then we are open to review and scrutinising it."

While sitting with the opposition, Mr Marape also called for a leaked ombudsman's report into a controversial $1.2 billion loan through the Australian branch of Swiss bank UBS to be immediately tabled in Parliament.

The report made findings against Mr O'Neill and several other senior figures, including Mr Marape.

Mr O'Neill has denied any wrongdoing and Mr Marape said he had only played a small part, if any at all.

He told the ABC the process would continue when Parliament resumed.

"The UBS report is part of a process that ombudsman commission has started. We've asked for it, ombudsman has tabled it, and Parliament will be privy to the reports when our Parliament convenes next, and we will take it on from there."

'We will do a diagnostic into our economy'

In his speech, Mr Marape briefly outlined plans to review PNG's resource laws.

"At the moment our resource laws our outdated, we do not intend to chase our investors, they are here to stay, we encourage them," he said.

"But we will look into maximising gain into what God has given this country, from our natural resources.

"Today I stand before this nation, and this honourable house, humbled but also burdened knowing the challenge before us as a nation is not easy.

"I know that our economy is bleeding and struggling. We will do a diagnostic into how our economy is right now.

"Eighty per cent of this country still locked in the enclaves of rural entrapment. Those of us in cities are enjoying and yet they are stuck up there. They deserve to be lifted."

He also used his maiden speech to talk up plans to carry out major reforms with the public sector.

Mr Marape's appointment as the eighth Prime Minister of PNG, comes a day after Mr O'Neill resigned, having lost the support of the house after seven years in power.

Mr Marape, the member for Tari-Pori in Hela province, led a defection from the government to the opposition camp in April which forced Mr O'Neill's resignation from office.

After Mr O'Neill resigned on Wednesday, Mr Marape and his supporters turned to the ruling coalition.

In a surprise turn of events during the election for Mr O'Neill's replacement, opposition leader Patrick Praitch nominated Mr O'Neill as a candidate for the job that he had resigned from the day earlier.

Mr O'Neill initially accepted the nomination but then later withdrew from the race when a second nominee was put forward by the Opposition — a former prime minister, Sir Mekere Morauta.

Speaker Job Pomat declared Mr Marape as Prime Minister-elect and then suspended parliament so Mr Marape could be sworn in by the Governor-General Bob Dadae.



Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, politics-and-government, governance, leadership, papua-new-guinea, pacific

First posted </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".
James Marape is elected Prime Minister by the National Parliament following the resignation of Peter O'Neill.