 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Presidential election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
General elections were held in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville on 5 September 2025 to elect the president and members of the House of Representatives. [1] It was the first election in Bougainville to be held in a single day. [2] A total of 46 seats were contested in the House of Representatives following the introduction of five single-member constituency seats. [3] Incumbent president Ishmael Toroama was reelected after winning more than 90,000 votes.
On 6 February 2025, the Autonomous Bougainville Government announced that general elections would be held on 4 September 2025. [3] However, a day before the election, Bougainville's electoral commissioner Desmond Tsianai said that voting had been postponed to 5 September 2025, as ballot papers, which had been printed in Port Moresby, were not completed and delivered to Buka constituency on time. Tsianai also cited quality control issues with respect to serial numbers and noted that the final delivery of ballot papers to Bougainville, which had been scheduled on 23 August, was not held until 2 September, leaving regional authorities unable to distribute them to constituencies on time. The postponement will affect all constituencies except Atolls, which would vote as scheduled on 4 September. [4] Additional delays in material caused voting in Central Bougainville to be moved again to 8 September. [5]
Around 238,000 people were eligible to vote in the election. [6]
There were seven candidates running for the presidency. [6] A total of 404 candidates ran for seats in the House of Representatives. This included 34 women. Fourteen of them stood in the three seats reserved for women, while 20 others contested open electorates. [7]
Voting was held in 544 polling stations from 8 am to 4 pm Bougainville Standard Time and involved around 3,000 staff. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems deployed observers to monitor the election. [6] [4] Voting was concluded on 8 September following a series of extensions in some constituencies. [12] The electoral commission described the process as smooth and peaceful, with 90% of polling stations opening on time. [13]
Ballot-counting was scheduled from 9 to 21 September. [14] However, Bougainville Attorney-General Ezekiel Massat announced that counting was moved to 11 September due to disruptions caused by bad weather. [15] Due to the late arrival of ballot boxes from five provinces, vote-counting finally began on 12 September. [16]
Vote counting began a week after the election took place, with results expected by 22 September 2025. [17] On 22 September, the Office of Bougainville's Electoral Commission (OBEC) announced that the release of the results would not be finished until 6 October, citing insufficient time and logistical delays in counting. [18]
Preliminary results released on 22 September showed incumbent president Ishmael Toroama leading by nearly 70,000 votes. [19] By 29 September, he had been reelected president with more than 90,000 votes. [20] All 45 seats in the House of Representatives were declared by 4 October. [21] Toroama was inaugurated for his second term as president on 6 October. [22]
| Presidential | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary | |
| Referendums | |
See also: Elections in Papua New Guinea | |
