Ten Members of Parliament (MPs) have been declared so far in the 2017 National Election with one more week to the Return of Writs.
So far, Pangu Party has two declared, one declared for National Alliance Party, the Melanesian Liberal Party (MLP) has one MP declared whist the People’s National Congress (PNC) Party has the highest with six declared members.
Among the 10 declared were Prime Minister and Member for Ialubu Pangia Peter O’Neill and Tari Pori MP James Marape who was the first member to be declared on July 9.
The People’s National Congress (PNC) Party has six declared MPs including Party leader Peter O’Neill, Marape and Member for Moresby South Justin Tkachenko who was the second to be declared on July 13.
Three PNC candidates were declared over the weekend, MP for Koroba Kopiago Petrus Thomas, Manus Open MP Job Pomat and retained Governor for Manus Charlie Benjamin.
Pangu Party leader Sam Basil retained his seat for the Bulolo Open and MLP candidate Dr Allan Marat also retained his Rabaul Open seat.
New elect MP for Namatanai Open Walter Schnaubelt was also declared on the weekend with Koni Iguan from Pangu Party declared as Member for Markham Open.
Counting continuous throughout the country and more MPs are expected to be declared in the coming days.