ELECTION 2007 The Shift to Limited Preferential Voting in Papua New Guinea Edited by R.J. May • Ray Anere Nicole Haley • Katherine Wheen ELECTION 2007 The Shift to Limited Preferential Voting in Papua New Guinea Edited by R.J. May • Ray Anere Nicole Haley • Katherine Wheen Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Election 2007 : the shift to limited preferential voting in Papua New Guinea / edited by R.J. May ... [et al.]. ISBN: 9781922144294 (pbk.) 9781922144300 (ebook) Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Elections--Papua New Guinea. Preferential ballot--Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea--Politics and government--1975- Other Authors/Contributors: May, R. J. (Ronald James), 1939- Dewey Number: 324.609953 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Maps: Jennifer Sheehan, CartoGIS, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific Photograph credits: Cover: R.J. May; Chapters 5, 8, 20, 21: Nicole Haley; Chapter 19: Richard Eves Cover design and layout by ANU E Press Printed by Griffin Press First published by the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute and the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, The Australian National University, 2011. This edition © 2013 ANU E Press Contents Foreword and Acknowledgements . ix Contributors . xi Part 1: Issues 1 . An Overview of the 2007 Election in Papua New Guinea . 3 Andrew S. Trawen MBE, Chief Electoral Commissioner 2 . IDEC: The 2007 General Election through a Whole-of- Government Approach . 9 Paul B.B. Bengo 3 . Background to the 2007 Election: Political Developments . 11 R.J. May and Ray Anere 4 . The Voter Education Program: Growing a Demand for Good Governance . 35 Susan Ferguson 5 . Electoral Administration . 57 Nicole Haley 6 . Security in Southern Highlands Province . 79 Siale Diro 7 . Policing the Elections in Chimbu Province . 87 Thomson Fafungian 8 . Conducting and Securing Elections in a High-Risk Setting: The Koroba-Lake Kopiago Experience . 107 Chris Kenny and Nicole Haley 9 . Political Parties and the 2007 National Election: Alignment to Reform? . 123 Alphonse Gelu 10 . Women as Candidates and Voters: Gender Issues and the Kerema Open Electorate . 139 Orovu Sepoe 11 . The Kup Women for Peace: A Localized and Innovative Approach to Free, Fair and Peaceful Elections . 157 Rachael Hinton, Michelle Kopi, Angela Apa, Agnes Sil, Mary Kini, Jerry Kai, Yanny Guman and Daniell Cowley 12 . The Context of HIV Transmission During the 2007 Election in Enga Province . 171 Philip Gibbs and Marie Mondu 13 . Assessing the Shift to Limited Preferential Voting . 193 R.J. May, Katherine Wheen and Nicole Haley Part 2: Electorates 14 . The Abau Open Electorate: A Second Go at LPV . 209 Ray Anere 15 . The Ijivitari Open Electorate: Women’s Participation as Candidates and Voters . 227 Dixon Susub 16 . Communication, Logistics and Inter-Agency Partnerships in the Eastern Highlands Provincial Electorate . 245 Michael Unage 17 . The Election in Chuave Open Electorate . 263 William Steven Gari Kaupa 18 . Limited Preferential Voting in Enga: The Wabag Open Electorate . 281 Philip Gibbs 19 . Religion, Politics and the Election in the Southern Highlands . 305 Richard Eves 20 . Guns, Money and Sex: Assessing the Impact of Electoral System Reform on Political Culture in Southern Highlands Province . 327 Nicole Haley and Ben Dierikx 21 . Results at any Cost? The Legacy of 2002 in Koroba-Lake Kopiago Open Electorate . 347 Nicole Haley 22 . Elections and Corruption: The ‘Highlandization’ of Voting in the Madang Open and Provincial Electorates . 385 Patrick Matbob 23. What is Holding them Back? Reflections on one Woman’s Loss at the Polls: Usino-Bundi Open . 407 Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi 24 . Organization Takes the Spoils: The Election in Yangoru- Saussia . 425 Leo Yat Paol and Patrick Gesch 25 . The Return of the Chief: East Sepik Provincial . 443 R.J. May 26 . Political Parties and the Election in Gazelle . 459 Elly B. Kinkin 27 . Between Eagles and Flying Foxes: Elections for the Manus Provincial and Open Seats . 477 Steffen Dalsgaard 28 . Looking to 2012: Lessons from 2007 and Arising Issues . 503 Ray Anere and Katherine Wheen Appendix: Results of the 2007 Election . 513 Foreword and Acknowledgements Every general election in Papua New Guinea, since 1964, has been the subject of a comprehensive collaborative study by Papua New Guinean and foreign scholars. And every study (with the exception, to date, of 2002) has been published. This volume continues a longstanding tradition. The election of 2007, however, generated particular interest: not only did it follow what has been described as Papua New Guinea’s worst election ever, in 2002 (in which elections in six of the country’s 109 electorates were declared to be ‘failed elections’), it was the first general election to be held under a new limited preferential voting (LPV) system; it also followed the first full parliamentary term under the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates, which had been introduced in 2001 in an attempt to strengthen political parties and create a greater degree of stability in the National Parliament, and was the first to embrace a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to electoral administration, through the Inter-departmental Election Committee. Moves to set up a coordinated study of the 2007 election were initiated within the National Research Institute in 2005. Subsequently, the Registrar of Political Parties requested a Domestic Observation of the election by Papua New Guinean scholars and civil society organizations, and the Australian Agency for International Development-funded Electoral Support Program (ESP) also commissioned a monitoring of the election. These three initiatives converged. An ESP-funded Domestic Observation was organized through the National Research Institute, under the joint leadership of Dr Ray Anere of the National Research Institute and Dr Nicole Haley of the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program of The Australian National University, focusing on the administration and outcome of the election. The report of the Domestic Observation was submitted to the Inter-departmental Election Committee, and to the ESP, in 2008 and was published by the National Research Institute in 2009. This volume draws heavily from the Domestic Observation (a number of whose team leaders have contributed chapters to this volume), but attempts, like the studies of earlier Papua New Guinea elections, to look at broader issue of electoral politics at both the national level and within selected electorates. As always, the tasks of pulling together a number of contributors and obtaining accurate electoral data have not been easy (as at May 2011 results were still not available for all electorates and the Electoral Commissioner’s report had not been tabled in parliament). This is reflected in the time it has taken to achieve publication. ix Election 2007: The Shift to Limited Preferential Voting in Papua New Guinea We are indebted to those who have facilitated the study and its publication; in particular we acknowledge the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission, the Australian Agency for International Development, the Inter-departmental Election Committee (IDEC), and the Electoral Support Program Phase 2 (ESP2). We take this opportunity to thank the authors of the chapters, especially Mr Andrew Trawen, Chief Electoral Commissioner, and Mr Paul Bengo, formally the Chair of IDEC. We thank certain individuals who have been instrumental to the publication of this volume: Dr Bill Standish, Dr Thomas Webster, Dr Musawe Sinebare, John Kalamorah, Sue Rider, Jim Robins, Tracy Harwood, Jenny Parina and Siling Geatulu. x Contributors Ray Anere is a senior research fellow in the Institutions Strengthening Pillar (formerly Political and Legal Studies Division) with the National Research Institute. He was co-leader of the 2007 Election Domestic Observation Team. Angela Apa was, at the time of writing, a member of Kup Women for Peace, Kup subdistrict, Chimbu Province. Paul Bengo is the chief of staff in the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council. At the time of writing he was the registrar of political parties and chairman of the Inter-departmental Election Committee. Daniell Cowley was, at the time of writing, a programme officer with Oxfam International (Papua New Guinea), Highlands Programme, Goroka. Steffen Dalsgaard is assistant professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. Ben Dierikx is currently writing his PhD dissertation at The Australian National University. Siale Diro is commanding officer, 1RPIR with the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. He was co-leader of a joint Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and Papua New Guinea Defence Force operations to provide security for the 2007 election. Richard Eves is a senior research fellow with the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. Thompson Fafungian was an inspector with the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and was part of the joint operations providing security for the 2007 election. Susan Ferguson was coordinator of the voter education awareness program within the Information and Community Awareness Division of the Electoral Commission. Alphonse Gelu is a senior research fellow in the Institutions Strengthening Pillar (formerly Political and Legal Studies Division) with the National Research Institute and a research adviser to Coffey International. Pat Gesch, formerly parish priest at Yangoru, is vice president (Wewak Campus) of the Divine Word University. xi Election 2007: The Shift to Limited Preferential Voting in Papua New Guinea Philip Gibbs, formerly a parish priest in Enga, is a research adviser to Caritas Australia in Papua New Guinea and a member of faculty of the Melanesian Institute, Goroka.