3. Background to the 2007 Election: Political Developments

by inaccurate—often grossly inaccurate—electoral rolls, widespread voting irregularities and manipulation (sometimes by electoral officials), intimidation of voters, hijacking of ballot boxes, and violence among rival candidates and their supporters and in a few instances against polling officials. There were a number of election-related deaths. In Enga Province, ballot boxes held for safekeeping in a metal container outside a police station were bombed with drums of aviation fuel, and in Southern Highlands Province, elections in six of the province’s nine electorates were declared ‘failed elections ’ when officials became unable to control the election. The problems were concentrated in the volatile highlands provinces, but were not confined to the highlands. The 2002 election was also the first to be held under the new Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) and the last to be held under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system, which had replaced an optional preferential system under the colonial administration. The introduction of the OLIPPAC—which was intended to strengthen political parties and giv