Australia threatens PNG with Sanctions


FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr has threatened to consider sanctions against Papua New Guinea if it abandons plans to hold mid-year elections.
PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has pledged a full, free and fair election for late June but is facing calls - including from his own deputy - to delay.
Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah says the poll should be pushed back for 12 months to give the Government more time to implement its polices.
He also argues there is potential for fraud because the electoral roll is only sixty per cent complete.
Senator Carr today significantly hardened Australia's line on the Government's plans.
"It is absolutely vital that Papua New Guinea, that the government of Prime Minister O'Neill commit unequivocally to this election," Senator Carr told Sky News.
The failure to hold elections would create a "shocking model" for the Pacific, he said.
"You've got Australia placed in a position where we'd have no alternative but to organise the world to condemn and isolate Papua New Guinea," he said.
"We'd be in a position of having to consider sanctions.
"So I take this opportunity to urge the government to see that those elections take place, keeping Papua New Guinea in the cycle of five-yearly elections."
The calls for an election delay follow months of political intrigue and instability in the 36-year-old country in which Mr O'Neill engaged in a power tussle with his predecessor, Sir Michael Somare.
Senator Carr says Australia will send 30 election observers to PNG for the poll to monitor electoral officers and assist with electoral rolls and IT systems.
Senator Carr's comments come just days after his junior minister Richard Marles said Australia was not contemplating the possibility of an election delay.
"Our focus at the moment is not contemplating the consequences of not holding them on time, but making sure the required support is there," Mr Marles said.

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