David Arore

Last updated

David Arore (born 31 January 1974) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007 until unseated by a court decision in 2015 and again from a 2015 by-election until 2017. He was Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology under Peter O'Neill from 2011 to 2014. [1] [2]

Contents

First term

He was first elected to the National Parliament in the 2007 general election, as MP for the Ijivitari Open constituency in Oro Province. Elected as an independent, he then joined the National Alliance Party and was appointed deputy Minister for Education by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare. When a cyclone and floods hit Oro, he was reportedly "on the ground with the people", "carrying a bag of rice, making tea for people". A petitioner having challenged the legitimacy of his election, filing claims against the Electoral Commission, the National Court in 2008 suspended Arore from Parliament, pending a recount of the ballots, but he ultimately retained his seat. [3] [4] [5]

In July 2010, he and five other party members defected briefly to the Opposition, in a failed attempt to bring down the government. Within a few days, they pledged their support for the government once more, and were accepted back. [6]

At the start of August 2011, he was again among several government MPs to join the Opposition. This time, a successful parliamentary motion of no confidence brought down the government of Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal (standing in for Somare while the latter was hospitalised for a serious heart condition), and Peter O'Neill became Prime Minister. [7] O'Neill appointed Arore as his Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology. [5] [8]

In January 2012, he joined Don Polye's new Triumph Heritage Empowerment Rural Party. [9]

Second term

On 19 March 2013, Arore stepped down from the government, upon being charged with bribery and graft, in connection with alleged acts during the 2012 general election. He denied the charges, but stepped down until his name could be cleared, in accordance with guidelines set down by Prime Minister O'Neill. Don Polye temporarily took over his portfolio. [10] The corruption charges were dismissed by the district court in June, finding that there was insufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case, and Arore resumed his ministerial roles. [11] Arore was dropped from the ministry in a February 2014 reshuffle, replaced by his party colleague Delilah Gore. [12]

He resigned from the Triumph Heritage Empowerment Rural Party, along with three other MPs, in May 2014, following leader Polye's move to the opposition, having decided to continue to support the government. [13] On 25 June, Arore and the other MPs joined Prime Minister O'Neill's People's National Congress. [14] In October 2014, a long-running feud with Northern Province governor Gary Juffa came to a head when he attempted to install himself as Governor, resulting in the arrest of several of his supporters, with Juffa ultimately remaining in office. [15] [16]

Unseating and re-election

In May 2015, the National Court (sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns) unseated Arore, finding that he was guilty of bribery during the 2012 election campaign and that his election was consequently null and void. The court ordered a by-election in his seat. [17] The People's National Congress re-endorsed him for the by-election, resulting in criticism from the Papua New Guinea chapter of Transparency International and in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. [18] [19] He won the by-election in December 2015 and returned to parliament. [20]

At the 2017 election, Arore contested the Northern Province governorship against incumbent Gary Juffa, rather than recontest Ijivitari Open. [21] He finished fourth, polling only 6,129 votes to Juffa's 37,729. [22]

Related Research Articles

Don Polye

Don Pomb Polye is a Papua New Guinean politician from Enga Province. He has been a Cabinet Minister under two Prime Ministers, and was briefly Deputy Prime Minister from July to December 2010. He has held Foreign Affairs, Immigration, Transport, Civil Aviation, Finance and Treasury portfolios.

Cabinet of Papua New Guinea

The Cabinet of Papua New Guinea functions as the policy and decision-making body of the executive branch within the government system of Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister and Ministers serve as members of the Cabinet.

Puri Ruing is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 1997 to 2002 and from 2007 to 2012, representing the electorate of Dei Open. He served as Minister for Justice under Mekere Morauta, Minister for Internal Security under Michael Somare and Minister for Civil Aviation under Peter O'Neill.

Francis Marus is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Talasea Open. He was Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology in the government of Peter O'Neill from July 2016. He was previously the Deputy Speaker of the National Parliament from 2007 to 2012. He has variously represented the Pangu Party (2007–2012), the Papua New Guinea Party (2012–2013), the United Resources Party (2013–2014) and the People's National Congress (2014–present).

Sali Subam is a Papua New Guinea politician. He was a National Alliance member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007 to 2012, representing the electorate of South Fly Open.

Boka Kondra is a Papua New Guinea politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from July 2007 until December 2016, representing the electorate of North Fly Open, variously as an independent, for the National Alliance and for the People's National Congress. He was Vice-Minister for Mining (2011-2012) and Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture (2012-2016) in the O'Neill government. Kondra was dismissed from office in December 2016 after a leadership tribunal found him guilty of misappropriation charges.

The United Resources Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.

The New Generation Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea.

Sam Abal Papua New Guinean politician

Samuel Tei Abal is a Papua New Guinean politician. Abal, who previously served as Foreign Minister from August 2007 to December 2010, became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country in a cabinet reshuffle by Michael Somare on 7 December 2010. He further became acting Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea on 13 December 2010, when Prime Minister Somare stepped down from office to face a tribunal regarding allegations of financial mismanagement. His tenure as acting Prime Minister ended on 2 August 2011, when Peter O'Neill won a parliamentary vote to be appointed as Prime Minister.

2011–2012 Papua New Guinean constitutional crisis was a dispute between Sir Michael Somare and Peter O'Neill. Both claimed to be Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.

Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party Political party in Papua New Guinea

The Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded in 2012 by Don Polye, Minister of Finance at the time.

Paru Aihi is a former Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007 to 2012, representing the electorate of Kairuku-Hiri Open. He was Minister for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Research under Michael Somare from March to August 2011 and Minister for Education under Peter O'Neill from August to December 2012.

People's Movement for Change is a political party in Papua New Guinea.

Tony Aimo is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2012 and again from 2012 to 2013, representing the electorate of Ambunti-Drekikir Open. He was Minister for Correctional Services under Michael Somare from 2007 until 2011, although he was stood aside for three months in 2010. A long-time People's Action Party member, he was briefly reported to have joined the Papua New Guinea Party following the fall of the Somare government, only to emerge as a member of Somare's National Alliance Party.

Benny Allan is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2002, representing the electorate of Unggai-Bena Open, variously as an independent (2002) and for the United Resources Party (2002-2012) and People's National Congress (2012-present). He has been Minister for Lands and Physical Planning in the government of Peter O'Neill since August 2012. Allan previously served as Minister for Environment and Conservation under Michael Somare from 2007 to 2011.

Francis Awesa is a Papua New Guinean politician. A former Premier of the Southern Highlands under the old provincial government system, he was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007 to 2017, representing the electorate of Imbonggu Open. A Papua New Guinea Party member in his first term, he subsequently switched to the People's National Congress after PNC leader Peter O'Neill became Prime Minister in 2011. He was Minister for Transport, Works and Civil Aviation (2011), Minister for Transport and Works (2011-2012) and Minister for Works and Implementation (2012-2017) in the government of Peter O'Neill.

Aide Ganasi was a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a People's National Congress member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from July 2012 to March 2013 and from September 2013 until November 2016, representing the electorate of South Fly Open.

James Gau Gelak is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2010 to 2017, representing the electorate of Rai Coast Open for the National Alliance Party (2010-2012) and Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party (2012-2017). He was also Governor of Madang Province from January 2011 until the 2012 election.

Sam Basil Papua New Guinea politician (1969–2022)

Samuel H. Basil was a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007, representing the electorate of Bulolo Open, until his death in 2022. From 8 June 2019, to August 2019 Basil served as the Treasurer of Papua New Guinea.

Patrick Pruaitch, CMG is a prominent politician in Papua New Guinea. He is since 2002 Member of Parliament representing the Aitape-Lumi constituency in the West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. He has been a Cabinet Minister with few interruptions from 2002–2010 and thereafter from 2012–2017. From November 2019-November 2020, he was minister of Foreign Affairs. In the period 2017–2019 he was leader of the opposition. He was twice -in 2019 and 2020- alternate PM in unsuccessful attempts to unseat the government.

References

  1. ↑ "Hon. David Arore, MP". National Parliament of Papua New Guinea. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Nominations By Electorate" (PDF). PNG Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "Arore’s funds ‘held’ till after re-count" Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine , Post-Courier, 29 April 2008
  4. ↑ "MPs’ performance has been on par" Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine , Post-Courier, 29 April 2008
  5. 1 2 "16 first time MPs get into Cabinet" Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine , Post-Courier, 9 August 2011
  6. ↑ "Rebellious six back with ruling National Alliance Party in PNG", Pacific Islands News Association, 27 July 2011
  7. ↑ "O'Neill is PM", The National, 3 August 2011
  8. ↑ Cabinet of Papua New Guinea Archived August 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine , CIA Factbook, 18 August 2011
  9. ↑ "New party launched" Archived January 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , Post Courier, 24 January 2012
  10. ↑ "PNG minister quits over election charges", AAP, 19 March 2013
  11. ↑ "Court: Arore free of charge". PNG Post Courier. 24 June 2013.
  12. ↑ "PNG Cabinet reshuffle, Decision based on performance, stability: PM O'Neill". PACNEWS. 25 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "Resignations en masse from PNG political party". Radio New Zealand. 21 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "Four more PNG MPs join PM O'Neill's party". PACNEWS. 25 June 2014.
  15. ↑ "Oro uproar Deputy PM: Vote illegal; Juffa is still Governor". PNG Post Courier. 30 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "Police arrest five leaders over fiasco". PNG Post Courier. 31 October 2014.
  17. ↑ "Bribing Ijivitari MPs win nullified". PNG Post Courier. 2 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "PNC defends decision to endorse ex-MP Arore". PNG Post-Courier. 6 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "PNG in need of transparent accountable leaders". PNG Post Courier. 6 November 2005.
  20. ↑ "Arore re-election sad day for PNG". PNG Post Courier. 7 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "Arore comes clear on decision to challenge Juffa". Loop PNG. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  22. ↑ "Results". Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
Preceded by Member for Ijivitari Open
2007–2015
2015–2017		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.