PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill is poised to retain the Ialibu-Pangia Open seat with a landslide victory over his rivals. Mr O’Neill is expected to reach the threshold figure of 30,598 today or early tomorrow for the Electoral Commission to declare him winner. Under the Limited Preferential Voting system, once a candidate tallies over 50 percent of primary votes (first preference votes), that candidate is declared winner outright. If no candidate tallies 50 percent or more after the primary vote count, the elimination process is triggered. Candidates with the least number of votes are eliminated, and their second or third preference votes distributed until a winner is declared. After count 57 last night, Mr O’Neill had polled 23,368 votes (38 percent of total votes). He now needs only 7230 votes to reach the threshold and win. None of the other seven candidates have polled even half of the votes Mr O’Neill has amassed. Independent candidate Raphael Noipo is a distant second with 3780 votes, followed by Eke Lama on 3735 votes. This will be Mr O’Neill’s third term as Ialibu-Pangia MP when he is declared. In the 2007 General Elections, Mr O’Neill polled over 50 per cent of primary votes to win outright under the LPV system. He was first elected to Parliament in 2002, when he ousted then incumbent Roy Yaki by a similar majority. Mr O’Neill is the leader of the People’s National Congress party. The party is expected to do well in Southern Highlands and Hela provinces.
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