Social media and the mainstream media are beginning to be busy with reports and images of various sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) and intending candidates for the 2022 National Election busy engaging with people in their electorates.

A little over 14 months to go before the writs open in April 2022 for the national election process to start. It is panic stations and time to act for some. It is an opportunity to seize for others. All in the name of us the people, in particular the potential voters.

Among those busy engaging with the people are members of the National Executive Council (NEC) who are going around the country opening projects or launching new ones, some with mind-boggling project costs in the hundreds of millions of kina.

Meetings are being held in different settings to make intentions for the 2022 NE known and strategies mapped out. The MPs and intending candidates are attending various gatherings across their electorates and other towns with people from their districts based there.

It is time to strategise and mobilise resources for a bid for a seat in Parliament in the 2022 National Election. In a way, it is like playing lucky lottery game or a going to the bookies to bet on a horse.

Some MPs who paid little attention to the plight of the people in various parts of their districts and provinces are responding now. They are visiting these places and committing projects and even delivering hard cash in the name of this or that community concern.

The sudden rise in interest of the MPs in the affairs of their electorates is interesting in the concluding months of this term of Parliament. Some opponents and critics of MPs are busy on social media in particular, questioning the genuineness of the gesture of the MPs. They are asking why the sudden increased interest in the affairs of the electorates at the tail end of this term of Parliament. These are legitimate questions to ask whether the sitting MPs and their supporters like it not. If the MPs in question have performed to expectations and delivered, they do not have to be bothered. Our people, the voters, are not fools. They can judge who has delivered and who has not thus far.

The political opponents and critics are accusing the MPs of “early campaigning” when the law only allows campaigning for a seat in Parliament only after the writs are opened by the Head of State (Governor General). Likewise, supporters of sitting MPs are branding the actions and community engagements by potential candidates as “early campaigning” as well. You see the debate unfolding of Facebook, particularly among supporters.

The law against “early campaign” is not strictly followed as sitting MPs and potential candidates do whatever they can to reach out to the people and make their intentions known.

The gestures from both the sitting MPs and potential candidates can range from the sponsorship of a community project, a sports competition or sponsorship of students for further studies.

The MPs and candidates may not say it publicly but people can work out what the intentions are as any behind closed-door conversations does eventually get out into the public domain in the electorate.

For sitting MPs, it is obvious that any heightened community engagement, visits and support for projects in the electorate in the final year before the election suggestions that someone is preparing for re-election.

As for the intending candidates, people can tell from their active engagements in the community and increased support for community causes.

Some intending candidates, especially those working away from their home electorates do resign from jobs many months in advance to be with the people. They do so to acclimatize and get into the rhythm of life in the electorates and understand the people and the issues. This is so that they are not strangers once they nominate to contest after the writs open.

Some of the intending candidates in this bracket may have worked at senior positions and have been away from their home districts for many years and only return for leave or holidays. Therefore, the resignation from work early to be in the electorates prior to nomination for candidacy would work for them to get know the people and the issues on the ground.

Our public service has a standard policy that public servants intending to contest in the next election must resign six months prior to the issuance of the writs. In this case, our public servants in this category have about eight months left before they tender their resignation to contest the 2022 National Election.

In some cases, public servants are accused of using the positions they hold and government resources at their disposal to engage in “early campaign”. To date, no public servant or any other candidate and sitting MP has been charged for conducting early campaign.

As it is, our laws are quite strict in preventing MPs and intending candidates to engage in early campaigning. But as pointed out above, they do it without telling anyone that their gestures are part of an “early campaign”.

Intending new candidates especially the well-educated ones may have the best ideas to knowledge to develop their electorate. But they are often restricted by the law and resources. So ample time in the electorate and engaging with the people and hearing their stories is perhaps the way to go for them.

A well-educated professional may resign and intend to contest but he may be up against the sitting MP who is now armed with the DSIP and the government resources behind him. The same also goes for better-off businesspeople who are often well-prepared to take on the might of the sitting MPs.

My take away message out of the foregoing is the following. Our electoral laws need to be reviewed so ample time is given to intending candidates in particular to create awareness about themselves in the electorates before they can contest. The sitting MPs have the upper-hand in this regard because they are already better known and they have resources of incumbency in office to make a bid for re-election. The new candidates in particular do not have that privilege. Something for the PNG Electoral Commission to think about.