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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/26/papua-new-guineas-prime-minister-peter-oneill-resigns
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| Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O’Neill, resigns | Papua New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O’Neill, resigns |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Peter O’Neill, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, has resigned after weeks of high-level defections from his ruling party. | Peter O’Neill, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, has resigned after weeks of high-level defections from his ruling party. |
| O’Neill told a news conference in Port Moresby that recent changes to political allegiances in parliament had shown a “need for change”. | O’Neill told a news conference in Port Moresby that recent changes to political allegiances in parliament had shown a “need for change”. |
| On Friday, O’Neill’s opponents said they had mustered enough support in parliament to oust him over a range of grievances including dissatisfaction with O’Neill’s leadership and in particular his unilateral handling of a multibillion-dollar gas deal that opponents said was a poor outcome for PNG. | |
| O’Neill, who has been prime minister for seven years, has handed the leadership to Sir Julius Chan. | O’Neill, who has been prime minister for seven years, has handed the leadership to Sir Julius Chan. |
| Bryan Kramer, an opposition MP and one of O’Neill’s most outspoken critics, told the Guardian he considered the announcement a “ploy” from the prime minister to try and win back MPs who had defected from the government camp, and that he would not believe O’Neill was really leaving the top job until due process had been observed. | |
| “He’s announced he has stepped down, but we haven’t seen a resignation letter,” said Kramer. “Under our law [the resignation] doesn’t legally take effect until a letter has been submitted to the attorney general, accepted by the attorney general and we see the speaker make an announcement on the floor of parliament on Tuesday announcing there is a vacancy for the position of prime minister.” | |
| Kramer said that after the vacancy for the position is announced in parliament, there should be a vote by MPs for a replacement leader and Kramer is confident the opposition group, known as the Laguna Camp, has the numbers to elect a member of their group to the top job. | |
| “Assuming the resignation goes through, we will have 63 [MPs on their side, compared with the government’s 48 MPs], whoever we decide on as our nominee, which is a decision that hasn’t been made yet, will be the next prime minister,” said Kramer. “It will definitely not be Julius Chan.” | |
| “This is PNG politics, it’s not over yet,” said Kramer. | |
| Political instability is something of a fixture in the resource-rich but poor South Pacific nation and O’Neill has seen off previous attempts to topple him. | Political instability is something of a fixture in the resource-rich but poor South Pacific nation and O’Neill has seen off previous attempts to topple him. |
| The political crisis came to a head earlier this month after a spate of high-profile resignations by government ministers led to MPs calling a vote of no confidence in the PM. | |
| O’Neill secured a three-week adjournment designed to stall the no-confidence vote and defended his record, labelling talk of a declining economy and living standards as “fake news”. | |
| This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates | This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates |
| Papua New Guinea | Papua New Guinea |
| Asia Pacific | Asia Pacific |
| news | news |
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