Duma for DPE - He's Joined O'Neill

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Another good article on coalition from Reuters: "Rival PNG prime ministers join forces to form new government inShare.0Share thisEmailPrintRelated TopicsStocks » Markets » Basic Materials » Energy » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:11am EDT * PNG rivals end political feud and join forces * Incumbent PM O'Neill set to form new government * New hopes for political stability in mineral-rich country PORT MORESBY, July 25 (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea's rival prime ministers have ended a political feud that left the resource-rich country with two leaders for the most of the past year, joining forces to form a government in a surprise twist to the South Pacific nation's elections. The peace deal means incumbent Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is most likely to head the new government and form a coalition after a prolonged national election in the often volatile country, with backing from rival Michael Somare. "I want to take this opportunity to thank our founding father of our country, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, for joining us, making sure that we provide a government that is truly deserving for Papua New Guinea with all the stability that it deserves," O'Neill said. The result, if endorsed by parliament next week, should bring a new level of political stability to the nation of around 6.5 million people after a tumultuous year. Despite its mineral wealth, successive governments have been unable to deliver infrastructure or services to the people, with around 80 percent of the population living on subsistence village farming and small cash crops. PNG is the home to a $15.7 billion Exxon Mobil gas export project, and the giant OK Tedi copper mine which began production in 1987, as well as the Frieda River copper project, run by Swiss-based global miner Xstrata. Exxon's LNG project is expected to start production in 2014 and boost GDP by about 20 percent. Somare, the elder statesman of South Pacific politics at 76 and the country's first prime minister in 1975 after independence from Australia, re-contested his seat despite being gravely ill for much of 2011. His ill health sparked the feud. O'Neill was voted in as prime minister after Somare was ruled ineligible due to his prolonged absence from parliament. While O'Neill had the support of parliament, the Supreme Court twice ruled that Somare was legitimate prime minister, leaving the country with rival leaders. The election, which dragged on for more than a month, was praised by observers as being "largely peaceful", despite reports of sporadic violence. Other failings included bribery, widespread delays and anomalies in polling, destruction of ballot boxes, and discrimination against women, the Commonwealth Observer Group said in an interim report into the election earlier this month. The final makeup of the 111-seat parliament should be clear by Friday, when official results are declared. More than 3,400 candidates from 46 political parties contested the poll, where around half of the country's lawmakers have so far lost their seats. To form a government, a leader must cobble together a coalition of at least 56 lawmakers during the post-election horse-trading, with the prime minister directly elected by a vote in parliament, which is due to meet by Aug. 3." http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/2...CC20120725

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And yet another from PNGIndustry News:

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Another political marriage of convenience: opinion

Blair Price Wednesday, 25 July 2012 NO ONE saw it coming before the election but Sir Michael Somare has joined the camp of his rival Peter O’Neill as part of an emerging coalition poised to form government. Somare previously promised to send O’Neill and the other key political figures facing contempt of court proceedings to jail. Despite the various legal battles and a lengthy war of words between the two leaders over the past 11 months, sometimes it takes a shared enemy to find common ground. Belden Namah, who was deputy prime minister since O’Neill rose to power in August last year, is vying for the top job with the often supportive Post-Courier even declaring the political marriage of O’Neill and Namah is over. And while Somare, one of PNG’s founding fathers, was irate with O’Neill-Namah government’s various unconstitutional actions which pitted Parliament against the judiciary, Namah really took the cake by marching into court with police to personally lead the arrest of Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia in May. While the local reports so far include smiling photographs of O’Neill and Somare together under their new alliance in the making, there is certainly discussion behind the scenes on the motivations. “I was told in view of the election results the National Alliance people felt it was best to aim for a government of conciliation that would work to bring the people together again, which explains the Somare move,” a politically connected source said. “But the old man is deeply hurt by what happened so he has to swallow much pride in doing this.” The source further confirmed speculation that Namah was seen as a growing threat. “In terms of government formation, lots of people are scared of what Namah may be capable of doing following the way he barged into a Supreme Court hearing to arrest the CJ – a task for which he has no responsibility – or that illicit flight over Indonesia [Falcongate controversy] and his willingness to throw around so much money which he must expect to recoup in one way or another.” The new O’Neill-led coalition, which former PM Sir Julius Chan (People’s Progress Party) is credited with bringing together, will also include former PM Paias Wingti although he is yet to officially win the Western Highlands provincial seat he is leading the vote count for. At this stage, this emerging force has at least 27 members of Parliament, which includes 15 MPs from the O’Neill-led People’s National Congress party, five from Somare’s National Alliance, six from PPP and one MP from the People’s Democratic Movement Party, which does not include its leader Wingti. According to The National, there could be a rush of independents and other minor parties to the coalition and Chan said O’Neill’s camp had 39 out of the 66 seats declared so far for the 111-seat Parliament. One of the big unknowns is where the Don Polye-founded Triumph Heritage Empowerment party sits and it already has six seats declared and leads in five others. After all, along with Namah, Polye was another key figure of the recent O’Neill government where he served as treasurer. “I am not sure why Polye doesnt feel he can get on with O'Neill, possibly his leadership aspirations are in the way,” the source said on the matter. As for the PNG party led by Namah, it has four MPs and is leading the vote counts in five other electorates so far. Yet Namah is reportedly confident he can outperform O’Neill in the “lobbying and horse trading” ahead. It’s also not clear if the United Resources Party led by long-time Petroleum Minister William Duma will hop onto the new-look O’Neill-led coalition. But given that the PNC Party could win up to 26 seats by the time vote counting ends, it would take immense political manoeuvring to eliminate O’Neill as PNG’s next PM.

http://www.pngindustrynews.net/storyview.asp?storyid=9589793&sectionsource=s0

Looking very strong