The 2017 National Elections will be the most important, sensitive and crucial for the people of Bougainville due to the referendum just nearby in 2019.
This is from an independent observation from an ex-combatant Ben Kamda, the former Rebel operations planner during the Crisis.
“Right now the election fever is so high and Bougainvilleans will be very careful in choosing candidates,” Kamda said.
“They will mostly be choosing candidates that are serious about Bougainville’s cause and the region’s political future.
“This election, according to our own assessment, will be very crucial because our national leaders, whom we will elect, will be the ones responsible to lead us into referendum or back into the arms of our mother country, PNG.”
Kamda added that the only threat now is propaganda in which there has to be a proper referendum awareness module set by the government.
“We must really tell the people about the seriousness of this national election and our pathway to referendum.
“We must tell them how this election will have an impact on our aim and our destiny,” Kamda said.