PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — Reformist Prime Minister Mekere Morauta held onto his parliamentary seat in Papua New Guinea’s national election Monday, and said there was now a good chance his party would form the senior part of a coalition government.
The poll, considered the most crucial since the country was granted independence from Australia in 1975, has been marred by deaths and violence.
Morauta’s re-election would buoy the hopes of major aid donors such as Australia and the World Bank, who hope to see his economic reforms continue in the crime-ridden South Pacific nation.
But winning his seat was no guarantee that Morauta would return as prime minister.
His anti-corruption campaign has made him numerous enemies, and may weaken his hand in political bargaining expected to follow the election as disparate factions seek to forge a ruling coalition.
Morauta snared almost a quarter of the vote in his electorate, scoring 1,100 votes more than his nearest rival.
“This is my first hurdle. The next hurdle is to form government,” Morauta told reporters at a counting center in the national capital, Port Moresby.
The reformist leader has tried for three years to clamp down on corruption and economic mismanagement in order to secure foreign aid for his struggling nation.
At the last election, in 1997, Morauta’s People’s Democratic Movement won only 10 seats. The remaining seats were split between 12 other parties and 40 independents.
However, Morauta said Monday he thought there was now “a good chance” his party would form a government following the election.
He said he expected the People’s Democratic Movement to pick up as many as 20 of the 109 seats in the poll.
Almost 3,000 candidates, including those from 43 political parties and hundreds of independents, are contesting the current election. Many seats have more than 40 candidates, and one has 63.
Voting in Papua New Guinea, a sprawling nation of 5 million north of Australia, began June 15 and will end this weekend. The makeup of the 109-seat Parliament will not be known until official results are released July 15.
The election has been marred by violence, with Highlands Police Cmdr. Alfred Reu confirming Monday that seven men were killed in election related incidents last week.
Four were killed and dozens injured last Tuesday in a remote town during fighting between supporters of rival candidates. Details of the other three deaths were not released.
