Reuters on 12 June reported that Papua New Guinea on Saturday begins the most important election of its short independent history, giving voters their first say since a mercenary scandal thrust the nation onto the world stage. Elections in the South Pacific nation of 4.3 million people are normally only remarkable for the frankness with which candidates offer to buy votes in a land where pork-barrelling literally means gifts of pigs. PanAfrican News Agency on 11 June reported that the cabinet here announced here on Tuesday that the country's first multiparty municipal elections will be held on 27 December this year. Reuters on 12 June reported that the Foreign Minister quit on Wednesday, accusing the ruling coalition's dominant communists of cheating in last month's local government elections. It has won 41 mayoral and 45 deputy-mayoral seats in the 58 municipalities.
Results are yet to be declared in one municipality.
Candidates of the CPN-UML were declared elected unopposed to their respective posts after Nepali Congress, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and independent candidates withdrew their candidature. The Montreal Gazette on 12 June reported that the government will not allow all Quebec anglophones to elect, and pay taxes to, the future English school boards, Education Minister Pauline Marois reaffirmed yesterday. Only those whose children are eligible to attend English schools will have the right to elect members of English school boards. Marois said the Quebec Human Rights Commission has issued an opinion that it is legitimate for the government to set a framework for the exercise of voting rights. The commission also said the restrictions respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Quebec's rights charter.