Five MPs of Papua New Guinea resign protesting PNG contract to French Company

The Papua New Guinea government is facing flak after five Members of Parliament (MPs) resigned from the People’s National Congress. The leaders are from the same resource-rich Highlands region as Prime Minister Peter O’Neil and have been key allies for him. The party has played a significant role in the country’s politics for seven years.

The PM, who is in China attending the Belt and Road Global Forum, said he respected the leaders' decision. The resigning MPs raised their dissatisfaction with the government’s actions in signing the Papua LNG project agreement with the French company Total SA. They warned that the interests of provinces and landowners are not being protected. The leaders argued that promised equity and loyalty benefits from PNG’s first big LNG gas project, based in their provinces, had still not transpired, ten years after that project agreement.

The resignation seems to have strengthened the opposition which is planning on tabling a motion of no-confidence against the PM when Parliament resumes next month. The opposition would need a score of MPs to defect from the coalition government to defeat O’Neil’s in a confidence vote.