Somare hangs on as tide turns
ROWAN CALLICK
PAPUA New Guinea's veteran Prime Minister Michael Somare shored up his shaky parliamentary support sufficiently to stymie plans for a vote of no confidence yesterday.
But his support has deteriorated so rapidly, falling to about 60 of the 86 MPs who elected him prime minister three years ago, that he is still likely to face a challenge in the next few days, possibly as early as today.
His National Alliance party is fragmenting rapidly.
The gauntlet was first thrown down by Deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu, who led three other ministers out of the cabinet on Monday night.
He is a medical doctor, a Papuan from Central Province near Port Moresby, who spent six years working at the Royal Melbourne and Royal Prince Alfred hospitals in Australia, before becoming permanent head of PNG's Health Department.
Yesterday, Sir Puka swiftly became leader of the opposition, which had set up camp in the tradition of PNG political end-games, this time at a resort near Gaire village on the coast east of Port Moresby.
The MPs who coalesced there came within a handful of the target for toppling a prime minister -- 55 out of 109 in the parliament, which has two of its five-year term still to run.
But crucially, most of the Highlands bloc -- the biggest regional grouping -- stayed with Sir Michael, after they could not agree on a single leader of their own to challenge him.
Sir Michael, 74, who has been prime minister for 16 of PNG's 35 years of independence, is an astute player of this core element of PNG politics, and has been able to preserve enough of his formerly dominant majority principally by offering ministries. In the last sitting, he amended legislation to enable him to appoint an extra five ministers beyond the limit of 27 in former cabinets.
He kept these positions up his sleeve as inducements, and could now add the jobs of the four who have defected to the opposition.
The traditional counter to a vote of no confidence in PNG is to call a motion adjourning parliament. A year ago, Sir Michael pulled this off with little trouble, obtaining an adjournment until November.
But the political environment has been utterly transformed by a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that the 10-year-old Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties breaches constitutional freedoms.
That law ensured MPs stay with the party in which they were elected during the five-year parliamentary term.
It made it virtually impossible to dislodge a government once it had formed a coalition enabling it to rule.
Now, however, MPs are free to shift between parties, and parties are themselves free to shift -- and the days of vote-buying and changing loyalties have returned with a vengeance.
Politicians concerned that Sir Michael had become too arrogant in power are now able to seek alternative leaders.
So Sir Michael yesterday felt sufficiently uncertain about his majority to refrain from testing it by an adjournment vote.
The stakes are much higher now than ever in PNG. At least one liquefied natural gas project is virtually certain to be built, for about $18 billion, which is already driving up property prices in Port Moresby.
The drama is set to continue through this parliamentary session.
A motion of no confidence -- if the newly augmented opposition feels strong enough to bring one on -- would not take place immediately, but would be voted on a week after being brought.
PAPUA New Guinea's veteran Prime Minister Michael Somare shored up his shaky parliamentary support sufficiently to stymie plans for a vote of no confidence yesterday.
But his support has deteriorated so rapidly, falling to about 60 of the 86 MPs who elected him prime minister three years ago, that he is still likely to face a challenge in the next few days, possibly as early as today.
His National Alliance party is fragmenting rapidly.
The gauntlet was first thrown down by Deputy Prime Minister Puka Temu, who led three other ministers out of the cabinet on Monday night.
He is a medical doctor, a Papuan from Central Province near Port Moresby, who spent six years working at the Royal Melbourne and Royal Prince Alfred hospitals in Australia, before becoming permanent head of PNG's Health Department.
Yesterday, Sir Puka swiftly became leader of the opposition, which had set up camp in the tradition of PNG political end-games, this time at a resort near Gaire village on the coast east of Port Moresby.
The MPs who coalesced there came within a handful of the target for toppling a prime minister -- 55 out of 109 in the parliament, which has two of its five-year term still to run.
But crucially, most of the Highlands bloc -- the biggest regional grouping -- stayed with Sir Michael, after they could not agree on a single leader of their own to challenge him.
Sir Michael, 74, who has been prime minister for 16 of PNG's 35 years of independence, is an astute player of this core element of PNG politics, and has been able to preserve enough of his formerly dominant majority principally by offering ministries. In the last sitting, he amended legislation to enable him to appoint an extra five ministers beyond the limit of 27 in former cabinets.
He kept these positions up his sleeve as inducements, and could now add the jobs of the four who have defected to the opposition.
The traditional counter to a vote of no confidence in PNG is to call a motion adjourning parliament. A year ago, Sir Michael pulled this off with little trouble, obtaining an adjournment until November.
But the political environment has been utterly transformed by a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that the 10-year-old Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties breaches constitutional freedoms.
That law ensured MPs stay with the party in which they were elected during the five-year parliamentary term.
It made it virtually impossible to dislodge a government once it had formed a coalition enabling it to rule.
Now, however, MPs are free to shift between parties, and parties are themselves free to shift -- and the days of vote-buying and changing loyalties have returned with a vengeance.
Politicians concerned that Sir Michael had become too arrogant in power are now able to seek alternative leaders.
So Sir Michael yesterday felt sufficiently uncertain about his majority to refrain from testing it by an adjournment vote.
The stakes are much higher now than ever in PNG. At least one liquefied natural gas project is virtually certain to be built, for about $18 billion, which is already driving up property prices in Port Moresby.
The drama is set to continue through this parliamentary session.
A motion of no confidence -- if the newly augmented opposition feels strong enough to bring one on -- would not take place immediately, but would be voted on a week after being brought.
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