PNG needs Democratic Audit: Gelu

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, September 13, 2015 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

AS the country reaches the end of 40 years of Independence- the Registrar of Political Parties at the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission, Dr Alphonse Gelu has called for a democratic audit to take place.

Dr Gelu stated that it was time for the country to take stock on what level of democracy it has achieved to date.

“Basically the story is that we have not really matched up to what is expected of us, like what happens in elections,” he said.

“The question that arises is Are elections in Papua New Guinea free and fair? Generally they are not free and fair in Papua New Guinea.”

“There are many instances of problems like disputes and by-elections it is an indication that the process in Papua New Guinea is still not democratic- we are still trying to work towards it.”

He said that in accessing democracy the question really is about the extent of how democratic a country is.

“It is not that you have to reach a certain point out of 10 in order to be fully democratic. We cannot say that because it is an ongoing thing and process. To some it is very important for us to answer that question,” Gelu explained.

“In Papua New Guinea I have talked about making a democratic audit. We have not done an official audit sanctioned by the government.”

“We need to do one considering we have reached this mark in our independence, and look ahead with a real assessment of how democratic we really are.”

He added that audit is possible existing partnerships with organisations such as IDEA (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) have the resources and expertise through their have developed frameworks, which we can be changed to suite the country’s assesment.

“What we will do at the registry is to start by looking at the democratic nature of political parties and from there we will look from other areas.”

“Framework consists of four main things to assess democracy: Citizenship law and rights; Representative and Accountable Government; Civil Society and Popular Participation; and Democracy beyond the State.”

“Currently we are having issues with funding. We might wait until things are okay for us and we might start the work by working with institutions like the University of Papua New Guinea and the National Research Institute and some other groups to partner us.”

“Once we determine after 40 years how democratic we are then it will help us in the next 40 years to see the areas that we are lagging and that is where reform comes in.”