Bougainville

The last of the Bougainville presidential votes have been counted but electoral officials still have days of work ahead of them before the winner can be announced. They need to do reconciliation and then start the elimination process, required under the proportional voting system used in Bougainville. Currently, former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander, Ishmael Toroama, had a substantial lead of more than 8,000 votes over second placed Simon Dumarinu.

A new newspaper for Bougainvilleans has been launched this week. The weekly paper, called The Bougainvillean, had its first print run of 5,000 copies in Port Moresby. The paper has had a digital presence on Facebook for months. However its first physical copies have only been sold in the Papua New Guinea capital so far because of Covid-19 restrictions on air freight into the autonomous region of Bougainville.

A second round of grants for cocoa farmers in Bougainville has been launched. The scheme, which began in 2017 and ran initially for 3 years, aims to help cocoa farmers increase production, improve quality and get better market access. Its been made possible by the governments of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, through the Bougainville Partnerships Commodity Support Facility.