Papua New Guinea has on Thursday appointed James Marape as the region’s new prime minister, after facing political turmoil from months.
According to The Guardians news reports, the members of parliament has overwhelmingly voted Marape, an ex-finance minister and partial ally of outgoing PM Peter O’Neil, 101 to eight in favour of Marape’s ruling to make him the next PM.
MPs voting came amid O’Neil’s resignation following a top-level definition from his party.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neil, who has been serving as the PM since 2011, has announced during a media conference in Port Moresby he would be stepping down and transferring the leadership to ex-PM Sir Julius Chan, whom Neil called as one of the “founding fathers” of the country.
However, on Monday, Julius stated there been “a huge misunderstanding”, adding he was neither acting PM nor he had been appointed to the ministerial role, and that “the existing prime minister has no power to nominate a new prime minister”.
Neil’s resignation has come amidst accusations over him that he holds Australian citizenship, which directly prevents him from being the nation’s PM, which Neil has denied.
The opposition has stated Julius wouldn’t win a vote over who should rule the nation and also that the one of its own number – high profile former leaders such as ex-PM Mekere Morauta, William Duma and James Marape – would end up being as PM.
The resumption of the parliament is the latest in a saga which saw members of parliament camping outside two Port Moresby hotels from last few weeks.