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Papua New Guinea PM plays down leadership challenge
PORT MORESBY, May 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Papua New Guinea’s embattled prime
minister insisted he still had the backing of his party Monday and can avoid
being turfed out of office in a vote of no confidence.
Peter O’Neill could face a vote on his eight-year premiership after
parliament returns Tuesday, following a string of high-profile political
defections.
Hitting out at “self-interested individuals,” the 54-year-old said in a
defiant statement that he was “very confident that we have the numbers to
continue to govern.”
O’Neill’s detractors accuse him of micromanaging and using the office to
further his own interests.
They are in a race to secure 56 votes needed from the 111 members of
parliament to force the motion of no confidence.
O’Neill’s opponents are believed to be around four votes short of the
number needed to depose him, but lobbying behind the scenes has been frantic,
and the ground could shift quickly.
The ministers of finance, defence, health and forestry are among those who
have already defected — along with a string of MPs and influential
provincial governors.
Regional or tribal alliances can outweigh party allegiances. But the prime
minister said he believes he has the votes to survive.
“At present we have more than 60 members of parliament meeting together as
part of our government,” he said.
Momentum against O’Neill has been building for months, but has come to a
head with the end of an exclusion period for no confidence votes and the
inking of a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) project with
France’s Total and US firm ExxonMobil last month. Opponents say the deal does
not benefit local communities enough and they want a review.
O’Neill’s long tenure in office has brought unusual stability to Papua New
Guinea’s fractious politics.
His tenure has also been marred by rampant corruption, high levels of
crime and large-scale investments that ran up public debt but showed little
benefit for ordinary Papua New Guineans.
The country has one of the highest poverty rates in the world. A little
over one in 10 Papua New Guineans have access to reliable electricity.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1147 hrs