The 2020 presidential and parliamentary election was held in the
Autonomous Region of Bougainville between 12 August and 1 September 2020.
440 candidates were contesting the 40 seats in the
Bougainville House of Representatives
The Bougainville House of Representatives is the legislature of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, an autonomous entity within Papua New Guinea. It was established in 2005 under Part 5 of the region's constitution, which specifies that the Ho ...
, including 25 competing to be
President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
The new government will negotiate the outcome of the
2019 Bougainvillean independence referendum
A non-binding independence referendum was held in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, between 23 November and 7 December 2019. The referendum question was a choice between greater autonomy within Papua New Guinea and full i ...
, which saw 98.3% of voters supporting independence from
Papua New Guinea.
Originally scheduled to be held in May, the elections were delayed twice due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, first until June, and then again until August.
[
On 21 August 2020 the Electoral Commissioner announced that polling had almost been completed, one week ahead of schedule. On 24 August a police officer was suspended for allegedly interfering with the election. Several other officers are under investigation.
]
Presidential election
Elections are held under the instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...
system, with voters classifying exactly three candidates. 25 candidates are contesting the presidency, including former President , former soldier Thomas Raivet, MP Fidelis Semoso
Fidelis may refer to:
;People:
* ''See Fidelis (name)''
;Places:
* Fidelis, Florida, an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States.
* São Fidélis, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
...
, lawyer Paul Nerau, businessman Peter Tsiamalili, health care professional Ruby Mirinka, and former MP Magdalene Toroansi
Magdalene Toroansi is a Papua New Guinean diplomat and politician. She is from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and was Minister for Women from 2005 and 2008. In 2010 and in 2020 she ran as a candidate for President of the Autonomous Region ...
.
Incumbent President John Momis
John Momis (born 3 March 1942) is a Bougainvillean politician who served as the President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea between 2010 and 2020.
Momis served as a Catholic priest from 1970 until 1993, becoming active ...
attempted to change the constitution to allow him to stand for a third term. Following Parliament voting down the amendment he unsuccessfully challenged the decision in the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea has been the highest court of Papua New Guinea since 16 September 1975, replacing the pre-Independence Supreme Court (corresponding to the post-Independence National Court) and the overseas appellate tribuna ...
.
Results
Vote counting began on 4 September 2020. Partial results at the beginning of the elimination process on 18 September had former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander Ishmael Toroama
Ishmael Toroama (born 28 February 1969) is a Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Bougainvillean politician who was elected President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in 2020 Bougainville Presidential Election, 2020. He is a former commander ...
leading, with
former PNG MP Father Simon Dumarinu
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
in second place, followed by Thomas Raivet
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas th ...
and Fidelis Semoso
Fidelis may refer to:
;People:
* ''See Fidelis (name)''
;Places:
* Fidelis, Florida, an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States.
* São Fidélis, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
...
.
On 14 September the counting period was extended until 24 September due to the number of votes and candidates.
On 23 September Ishmael Toroama was declared the winner after the 23rd elimination, with 48,766 votes. Father Simon Dumarinu came second with 30,688.
References
External links
Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner
2020 elections in Oceania
General election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
August 2020 events in Oceania
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
September 2020 events in Oceania
{{PapuaNewGuinea-stub