Posted By Staff Reporter
People’s Party a coalition partner in the current government is not supporting the Private Members Bill initiated by Gumine MP to replace Limited Preferential Voting (LPV) System or Model of Voting. The party in a meeting today unanimously resolved to go against the move by the government to re-introduce the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system in the 2022 National General Election (NGE). The party’s parliamentary leader and Governor of Jiwaka Province, the Hon. Dr. William Tongamp, Party Patron & Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas, Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources & Member for Wabag Open Hon. Dr. Lino Tom and Community Development Minister & Member for Jimi Open, Hon. Wake Goi, took a strong stand not to support the move. The elected leaders with the support of the party national executives and supporters want the LPV system to remain, where people are given an opportunity to vote a leader of their choice. We, as a People’s Party is strongly opposing the National Government’s proposal for a bill to do way with the Limited Preferential Voting system in the coming national general elections and reverting to the First Past the Post voting system, said Dr. Tongamp. The prime reasons for our stand are:
1. The FPTP System does not elect a Leader by popular voting population. Only few percentages of the voting population select a leader, just because the Candidate has scored huge votes from few locations only. Hence it does not represent the opinions of the entire voting population. Unlike the FPTP system, LPV ensures that a widely elected Leader is chosen and that is acceptable for a Country like PNG who is comprised of tribal groupings and identified along language groups or localities. LPV is the preferred option, 2. FPTP was replaced with LPV because of serious problems associated with the system. Main reason among others was corruption and vote rigging perpetrated by Candidates and Supporters using heavy handed tactics. The dominant groups with handful of supporters often used heavy handed tactics to rig the voting process and sabotage others so that only the dominant succeeds and declared. The System was so unfair and the notion of universal suffrage was not exercised, wherein every eligible voter has the right and freedom to choose their leader in a fair and democratic manner. We hence oppose the move as ill-conceived and against the principle for democracy in this country, Going forward, for PNG particularly in the Highlands Region where Tribal groupings is so strong, FPTP is not the preferred and acceptable method of voting to select their Leader. LPV is the cutting-edge option. PP stands to support the LPV and oppose FPTP model of voting, 3. Peoples Party is often identified with anti-corruption, upholds the Rule of Law, supports the system of government & processes and values ideal democratic principles of government. Compared with FPTP, People Party believes that LPV is arguably the democratic form of Voting as it offers 3 choices to the people. In an electorate with larger number of Candidates like Lagaip Porgera, LPV is the preferred model. The integrity of the voting system in PNG is upheld by the LPV and not FPTP, One has to study and appreciate various reports by ANU, Transparency International, Election Observer Committee, our very own think tank in NRI etc to appreciate the reason why we should stick with LPV and oppose FPTP, 4. As a matter of Law and Principle, Peoples Party is opposed to supporting a private members bill on a Constitutional matter. It should ideally be initiated by CRLC or the Justice Department as a review process. We will not support any breaches of relevant provisions of the law and process. The Party Leader said LPV provides an opportunity for people to make a true democratic choice by way of preference and it also allows candidates to move around freely and campaign freely. Elections in PNG have become a tribal business where voters are not given the opportunity to freely vote their candidate of choice. Should the FPTP be reintroduced there will be a lot of election related problems in the coming 2022 NGE. ‘We have a lot of pressing issues to address going into the elections in 2022 so we should look into addressing them instead of creating more problems that will get things from bad to worse.’ said Tongamp. Tongamp who is also Governor for Jiwaka said according to an independent survey carried out by the Constitutional Law Reform Commission recently, more than 80 per cent of the country’s total population are happy with LPV because it has reduced the number of election related fights and chaos and it has allowed people to vote freely. According to the survey Jiwaka topped the list with 83 per cent of the people who went against the FPTP while Simbu 75%, Western Highlands 72%, Enga 68%, Gulf 62%, Oro 61%, Eastern Highlands 58%, New Ireland 56%, Hela 54%, NCD 54% and Central and Madang 52%. He said as a coalition partner in government his party’s stance must be respected by government because it was the wishes of majority of the people. We should not bulldoze process and bills in the last minute for our convenience but we must rather respect our democracy and allow for a free and fair election. Meanwhile Party Founder and Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas in support of his leader called on the Prime Minister and the Executive government to be very considerate on any election related policy and legal changes when the elections are around the corner. The party said there were important issues about the national election that the government urgently need to address rather than trying to push a bill that would add more fire to problems already faced in past elections. PP said the country was not in a position for another change in the electoral process whilst the 2022 National General Elections was just few months away, where voters’ common roll was not updated, election operations and security issues were yet to be given a top priority. We as a party want to see a safe and fair election in 2022 where people are given the opportunity to vote for Members of their choice in a free, fair and democratic manner, and the platform for this is provided by the LPV system and NOT the FPTP. Statement Next : The Master Of The Game III Note: Let Your Views be heard : Send all your Political Commentaries to us through our email : pngfacts@gmail.com Share this
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