Vital to complete referendum process: Semoso

She says only then, both governments can know what the people of Bougainville want and prepare for the outcome.

Semoso, who attended the 1^st Joint Supervisory Body meeting in Arawa last Friday between the PNG Government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government, said it’s important that the process of Referendum is complete.

“There’s a lot of pros and cons, a lot of people are saying that we are not ready, but Bougainvilleans are saying, ‘We are ready’,” she stated.

“The most important thing is to make sure that that process is completed transparently and accountably.

“Both governments must make sure that the people of Bougainville take that vote.

“Only when they take that vote, we are able to know what the people are thinking.”

Semoso says it is important that both governments know the outcome and prepare for it. 

The PNG Government and the ABG have both agreed that June 15^th 2019 is the date for the much anticipated Referendum.

That is now less than a year away.

The Referendum is to determine the political status of Bougainville.

It is an election where the people on the island of Bougainville, and Bougainvilleans living and working in PNG, will have to vote on whether they want Independence or other political status moving forward.

Despite holding the JSB meeting just last Friday, both the PNG Government and the ABG are yet to finalise the questions that will be asked in the Referendum for the people to vote for.

They have, instead, agreed to hold another urgent JSB meeting, possibly next month, to finalise the questions for the Referendum.

Conducting the referendum is the part of three objectives of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, a constitutional document which aims for lasting peace in Bougainville following a bloody crisis that started in 1988 with a ceasefire in 1990.