Number 1/2011 3/2009 Briefing Note PAPUANEW NEWGOVERNMENT GUINEA’S IN “POLITICAL NEW CALEDONIA COUP” The MayThe 2009 Ousting Elections of inSir a Michael French PacificSomare Territory INTRODuCTION political contest between different members of the On 2 August 2011 it was announced that Papua New attemptedindependence votes coalition of no Front de Libération Nationale Every five years, voters in New Caledonia go to the polls, Guinea (PNG) had a new prime minister. The election confidenceKanak et Socialiste against (FLNKS). The rise of the new to elect representatives to three provincial assemblies of former finance minister Peter O’Neill came after the theParti government Travailliste and (Labour Party) has strengthened but (North, South and Loyalty Islands) and the local splits in most ma- speaker of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea complicated the movement for independence. Congress.accepted opposition claims that the prime ministership was jor parties, but the The provincial assemblies and Congress are local vacant,Following in view electionsof the continuing on 10 absenceMay 2009, of Sir there Michael are Somare government political institutions created by the Noumea Accord, 31Somare. members Somare of hadanti-independence gone to Singapore parties in April in thefor nonetheless became which was signed in May 1998 by representatives newmedical Congress treatment and but 23 in Augustindependence was still supporters. there recovering The the first since inde- of the French state, the FLNKS and the leading anti- conservativefrom heart surgery. Rassemblement O’Neill’s election UMP came (RUMP), as a surprise with to pendence in 1975 to independence party Rassemblement pour la Calédonie 13many, seats, and is the the events largest surrounding political partythe move, in the like Congress. much in survive a full term ButPNG behind politics, these were baldfar from figures, straightforward. all is not However,well for the it indans office. la République Somare’s (RPCR). supportersnow seems unlikelyof France that in Somare the South will Pacific. return to the country’s substantialToday, moremajoity than ten years into the Noumea Accord process, New Caledonia’s politics are marked by a level politicalOverall, leadership pro-independence and so it might parties now beincreased time to reflect their and the existence, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, 2009. representationbriefly on his legacyin the Congressand the possible by five implications seats compared of the underof stability the OLIPPAC, and inter-communal Photo: Lawrence engagement Jackson that is tochange the last in leadership. elections in 2004. Anti-independence parties ofmarkedly sanctions different against to the era of violent clashes between “party-hopping” contributed to this, but also relevant were dominate the Southern Province Assembly but are 1984 and 1988. But in spite of major political, economic the government’s control of parliamentary procedures largelyTHE LEAD-UP irrelevant TO outside 2 AUGUST the capital Noumea, winning and social restructuring and extensive funding by the through a less-than-impartial speaker (NA MP Jeffrey only two of 22 seats in the Northern Assembly and, for French state, the election results show there is still a In the national election of 2002, Grand Chief Sir Michael Nape), dominance of parliamentary committees, and ad- the first time ever, losing all their seats in the Loyalty significant gulf between parties which support or oppose Somare was re-elected to the East Sepik Provincial seat he journment of sittings. Islands. This result highlights the ongoing polarisation political independence from France. Most members of had held since 1968, and the party he headed, the National Despite growing complaints of “executive dominance”, the indigenous Kanak community continue to vote for betweenAlliance (NA),Noumea won and the the largest bush: number in spite of ofseats migration (19 out Somare’s success was repeated in the 2007 national elec- 1 independence, although they are still a minority of New fromof a total rural of areas 103 seatsto the declared capital, ).European Under the and provisions immigrant of tion. The NA again won the largest number of seats (27 out Wallisianthe Organic voters Law onhold the sway Integrity in the of SouthernPolitical Parties Province, and ofCaledonia’s 109 in 2007) population and Somare as awas result returned of colonial as prime settlement minister whileCandidates the indigenous(OLIPPAC), Kanakwhich hadpopulation been engineered (who largely by the byand 86 ongoing votes to immigration. 21. The NA, its numbers boosted by several supportoutgoing independence) Morauta government dominate primarily in the to rural promote provinces. the de- MPsThese who joined elections the party reflect after beinga key elected issue as forindepend- policy velopmentThe electionsof an effective were party marked system, Somare,by significant as leader ents,makers headed in the a coalitionPacific ofregion—can fourteen parties. electoral reform and competitionof the largest partybetween group the in theanti-independence parliament, was invited parties, to the Aspromotion in 2002–2007, of a multi-party the new coalitionSomare governmentgovernment highlightedform government. by a Hedrop successfully in votes put for together the RUMP, a coalition the usedtranscend its majority, ongoing and economic a compliant and socialspeaker, cleavages to dominate in a declineof thirteen of theparties Avenir and Ensemblewas elected party prime and minister success by for88 parliamentarymulti-ethnic society? procedures. As in InFiji, July the evidence2009, when from the thevotes new to nil Calédonie (with 14 abstentions). Ensemble party led by Philippe government2009 elections adjourned in New parliament Caledonia to suggests avoid a votethat manyof no Gomes,During who the won 2002–2007 the position parliament, of President the hoped-for of the confidence—aunderlying divisions move are which still unresolved.a Post-Courier The editorialelection Governmentstability of political of New allegiances Caledonia. did There not materialise, is also a sharp with describedcampaign as featured “a shameless debate exercise over ‘hip in self-preservation”— pocket’ issues like SSGM Briefing Note No. 3/2009 eleven members of the governing coalition defected attract support from the large Highlands bloc. However, to the opposition.2 One of those who crossed later said, the parliament met to pass the 2011 budget and 2010 “Decisions were dictated and bulldozed down our throats. supplementary budget, and promptly adjourned, the Arthur Somare used the position of his father to dictate attorney general declaring that there was no notice of a to us. There was too much concentration of power in one motion of no confidence before the parliament. (Reportedly, family” (Jamie Maxtone-Graham, PNG Country Party, the notice of motion submitted in July had been rejected by Anglimp-South Wahgi, quoted in National 29 August 2011. the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Private Business See also Post-Courier 30 July 2009). Senior members of because four of the signatories had withdrawn their support the coalition government also exploited the legal system after (re)joining the government.) in an attempt to resist referrals to leadership tribunals December 2010 saw another cabinet reshuffle: Polye over violations of the Leadership Code. was relieved of the deputy prime ministership and the Then, in July 2010, the Supreme Court handed down a works, transport and civil aviation portfolio, which were decision with regard to a challenge to the OLIPPAC, which given to his Engan junior colleague and minister for for- had been initiated by opposition MP Bob Danaya (leader of eign affairs and migration, Sam Abal (NA, Wabag); Polye the PNG Labour Party and MP for Western Province Pro- took over from Abal as foreign affairs minister. Amongst vincial).3 In an important judgement the Court ruled that other changes, Sir Arnold Amet (NA, Madang Provincial) several sections of the OLIPPAC were unconstitutional— was brought into cabinet to replace Ano Pala (NA, Rigo) as in particular the provisions restricting MPs from changing attorney general and minister for Justice. their allegiances in parliament. This decision opened the Shortly after this, Somare “voluntarily stepped aside” way for a return to the party-hopping and “yo-yo politics” from office following his referral by the acting public that had characterised parliamentary behaviour before 2001. prosecutor to a leadership tribunal over charges that he had Shortly after the Supreme Court decision, deputy failed to submit financial returns required of him under prime minister Sir Puka Temu (NA, Abau) and nineteen the Leadership Code, or had submitted late or incomplete other members of the governing coalition crossed the returns. (Since 2008 Somare had sought, through a series of floor. A motion of no confidence against Somare was unsuccessful court challenges, to avoid being subjected to drafted, naming Temu as alternative prime minister, but the a leadership tribunal; these were still ongoing in December following day a motion was passed to adjourn parliament 2010.) Abal thus became acting prime minister. Polye— until November. The motion was passed on voices, Speaker who had probably done his political career no immediate Nape refusing a formal vote. The opposition sought to have good when earlier in the year he had publicly voiced parliament recalled, and petitioned the Supreme Court to