2017 Papua New Guinea General Elections : Election Observation Report

Abstract

Delivering a national election “is the largest and most complex logistical operation a country ever faces in peacetime… It involves putting the entire adult population of the country through a proscribed process, under tight timeframes, sometimes as short as one day” (Maley 2014). In PNG the exercise is further complicated by difficult terrain, punishing weather conditions, poor transport infrastructure, extreme linguistic and cultural diversity which manifests as highly variable voter behaviour, inconsistent administrative performance at the subnational level, markedly diverse security environments and severe fiscal constraints, including significantly reduced funding in non-election years and the late and piecemeal release of funds in election years. All of these factors contribute to PNG’s elections being amongst the world’s most challenging and most expensive (per capita) to deliver (DFAT 2013). In mid-2017, PNG conducted its 9th general elections since independence. This report provides an independent research-based assessment of those elections, undertaken by Australian- and PNG-based researchers, under the auspices of the ANU. The ANU was one of several groups, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Melanesian Spearhead Group, the European Union, and Transparency International PNG (TIPNG), who were invited to observe the elections.1 The 2017 election observation was the third such observation undertaken by the ANU in PNG, and is the most comprehensive observation we have undertaken to date anywhere in the region. Funded in partnership by the ANU and the Australian Aid Program, the 258-person observation team, led by Nicole Haley, head of DPA,2 comprised 32 PNG academics/researchers in team leader roles, 21 ANU-based academics in mentoring roles, 10 ANU undergraduate students, 192 PNG observers recruited from civil society and the tertiary sector, and three ANU support staff. The observation differed from those of other groups in that it employed a mixed-methods approach, involving detailed observation by domestic and international observers from the issue of writs through to the formation of government, key informant interviews and two cross-sectional citizen surveys designed to explore attitudes, perceptions and the ways citizens engaged with and experienced the election.3 In total, over 7500 citizens were surveyed. Their views, experiences and insights inform this report and supplement the observations made by the ANU team