Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Somare in talks with O’Neill in PNG coalition lobbying

Posted at 10:41 on 24 July, 2012 UTC

Papua New Guinea’s caretaker Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has been in talks over possible coalition deals with Sir Michael Somare who he controversially replaced last year.

Sir Michael Somare’s National Alliance is just one of a handful of parties in discussions with Mr O’Neill’s People’s National Congress which leads vote counting for PNG’s general election.

Back in Port Moresby fresh from his electorate win in East Sepik, Sir Michael has been seen on local television reports having talks with Peter O’Neill and other political leaders including former Prime Ministers Sir Julius Chan and Paias Wingti.

Vote counting is drawing to a close and it’s clear that the former ruling party, the National Alliance, has lost ground in this election.

However the PNC is on track to end up as the party with the most votes and is expected to be asked by the Governor-General to form a coalition government within the next week.