ABG heads to the polls this year

Bougainville will hold its fifth General Election this year.

The Bougainville Electoral Commission (OBEC) announced the election dates today and said it is ready to organize a free and fair election.

This year’s election is important because there will be five new constituencies, making a total of 38 constituencies. People will also vote for the President and seats for women and ex-combatants.

This is the second election since the 2019 Referendum for independence from Papua New Guinea. It will be bigger with the new constituencies and marks the start of a timeline for Bougainville's final political agreement, which will happen between 2025 and 2027.

The election will begin in July with the issue of writs and end in September when the writs are returned, as announced by the Electoral Commission's Commissioner, Desmond Tsianai, in Buka today.

The 2025 General Election will also cover five provinces outside the region, to cater for Bougainvilleans living outside Bougainville.

Since Bougainville is moving towards a final political agreement under the 2001 Peace Agreement, there has been some uncertainty about the election.

The Speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives, Simon Pentanu, assures everyone that there is no doubt the 5-year election will take place this year, as required by the Bougainville Constitution.

The OBEC has already been allocated 20 million Kina for the conduct of the election, over 10 million Kina short of its requested budget of 38 million.

Bougainville has enjoyed generally free, fair and safe elections since 2005, and Commissioner Tsianai assures that the OBEC is once again prepared to deliver another successful event.