People’s Labour Party candidate, Songang Luther Wenge, was declared Morobe’s Governor-elect at 4.15am today at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium.
He exceeded the absolute majority of 112,581 with 130,363 votes.
Following behind was United Labour Party’s Kemas Tomala, with 94,798 votes.
Speaking after his declaration, Wenge expressed his intention to occupy the Prime Minister seat.
He then thanked electoral and counting officials, scrutineers and rival candidates for their efforts in ensuring a successful conclusion to the 2022 National General Elections.
Former governor, Ginson Saonu, was eliminated in the 34th exclusion.
Wenge was Morobe’s governor from 1997-2007.
In 2012, he lost the race to Kasiga Kelly Naru, then to Saonu in 2017.
He has been described as a vocal and firebrand leader, with Morobeans believing that he will fight tooth-and-nail for their resources.
In his previous terms, he set up the Gerson-Solulu scholarship, which funded a lot of tertiary students from Morobe but was subsequently reduced by previous governors.
The building of concrete roads in Lae was also initiated during his term.