Peter O’Neill was Friday re-elected the next leader of Papua New Guinea, ending a turbulent period in the nation’s politics which at one point saw it with two rival prime ministers.
O’Neill won the vote on the floor of parliament 94 to 12 after elections handed him the overwhelming support of the Pacific island nation’s lawmakers, his spokesman Daniel Korimbao told AFP from the capital Port Moresby.
“The vote just happened,” Korimbao said. “The prime minister is on his way to the governor general’s house for swearing in.”
O’Neill’s People’s National Congress (PNC) won more seats than any other party in the polls which began on June 23 and he was able to swell his support by forming partnerships with smaller parties.
The development draws an end to a bizarre period in PNG politics which began when the Supreme Court ruled in December that O’Neill’s election as prime minister by fellow MPs in August 2011 was illegal.
The court called for former premier Sir Michael Somare to be reinstated.
The decision triggered a crisis which, at its height, saw the nation with two prime ministers, two governors-general and two police chiefs.
Somare, 76, last month accepted the defeat of his party in the national elections and agreed to support O’Neill’s bid to form the next government.
