political parties

This was stated by the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission at the certificate presentation of two new political parties this week.

 “The commission is a constitutional office with a chairman in their own wisdom and when they see the requirements and recommendations they do the assessment and if they meet all requirements they’ll register your association as a political party to participate in our democracy,”  said Acting Registrar for the Registry of Political Parties, Emmanuel Pok.

This was stated by the Acting registrar for the Registry of Political Parties, Emmanuel Pok, during the certificate presentation of two newly registered political parties, the ‘National Development Party’ and ‘People’s Guided Democracy’.

“Contesting elections in PNG is very expensive, Political parties must have enough resources to contest in elections. That’s why the organic law announced political party venture into business because they have a business arm to support activities.

Acting Registrar of Political Parties, Emmanuel Pok, said since five years ago political parties have been underfunded.

The political parties who were presented their funds ranging between K20, 000 – K1.2 million; PANGU Pati, PPP, PNC, PNP, PNG Party, SDP, United Party, PNG One Nation Party, MLP, PDMP, PLP, PP, PNG Country Party, ULP, NAP, PNG Greens Party, People Action Party, URP, MAP, PFP.

Dr. Sanida said often people ask political parties on what they would do when they form Government or be part of a new Government but political parties in the Opposition also play an important role in the country’s democracy, especially from the perspective of “checks and balance” and offering alternative policy options. This is to say that both the Government and Opposition play a vital role. In this regard and in the context of the Seminar Series, political parties play an important role in addressing issues whether they are in Government or Opposition.

PNG NRI Director, Dr. Osborne Sanida, welcomed everyone to the 8th Political Parties’ Seminar Series and thanked and acknowledged the participating Party Executives.

General Secretary of PNG Party Kila Poka presented the party’s policies and said the party aims to serve the people to become educated, healthy, wealthy, and productive. The party believes on the Principles of Vision 2050 as its foundational pillars.

Dr Gelu was speaking at the 8^th presentation of the PNG Political Parties Seminar Series facilitated by the PNG Research Institute (PNG NRI).

“Let’s keep the policy short, let’s not go above five. If we go to ten, we will forget some of those policies. It is quite unrealistic. How can you get ten policies in to an election? Let’s bring it down and then focus and drive those policies,” Dr Gelu said.

Dr Gelu said the seminar series gives the opportunity to all the political parties to present their policies.

The party’s three policy platforms are:

1. God First,
2. Integral Human Development, and
3. Zero Tolerance on Corruption

PNG Party’s ‘God First’ platform would ensure that 10% of the national budget would best serve the churches in the country. Their reasoning, ‘Where there are no government services, the church is always there to uphold the need of the people’.

He challenged women leaders in the province to support each other in the country’s next National General Elections in 2022. 

Dr Gelu utilized the opportunity to advocate for women to step forward to contest in the coming elections. He said it is important that women have a voice in Parliament. He said women currently represent at the ward, president, and local level governments but are still not represented consistently in Parliament.

Emmanuel Pok, Director of Policy and Legal Division at the Registry of Political Parties and Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission (IPPCC), said political parties were state institutions and the challenge was now on them to make their policies known to the people and educate their members of the duties and the functions of the party.

He encouraged the political parties to do awareness as early as possible. Mr Pok was speaking on behalf of Political Parties Registrar Dr. Alphonse Gelu at the 7th seminar at PNG National Research Institute’s (PNG NRI).

The 2017 National Elections saw no women candidate voted in as a member of the national parliament which makes PNG one of only five countries in the world that has no woman member of parliament.

The IPPCC is keen to work with political parties to encourage more women to be nominated as candidates during the upcoming 2018 LLG elections and the 2022 general elections.

UNDP Assistant Resident Representative, Julie Bukikun also noted that they hope that this Expo will enable more PNG voters to find out which party’s policies represent their interests the best.