In any democratic country, elections are a way of serving the democratic purpose however in PNG, critical observations find that the political parties on the other hand, mean very little to voters.

With the 2022 general elections just around the corner, the country is set for one of its biggest events of the year.

Going back into the history of elections, none of the nine elections in the history of elections of PNG has been a dull moment.

From the simultaneous campaigning to the officiating, most of the election related activities are always accompanied by singing and dancing and traditional attire and caused with a lot of noise.

Regarding political parties however, candidates are rather elected into Parliament as individuals and voting is rarely based on parties and party consideration.

From then on we are familiar how parties receive candidates on behalf of forming the government if the candidate is not already endorsed by a political party. And since independence, have we seen anincrease in contesting candidates.

As result in the increasein the levels of the contesting candidatesin each general election,the public interest is stimulated and at times conflicts that are election related arise.

Up to date PNG has over 50 political parties-give or take- and it is unclear the number of candidates in each party given that there is only 111 members representing the entire population of PNG in parliament.

There are other subtle election related problems caused by the increased number of contesting candidates.

Take for instance the worth of each cast during polling is not captured by the actual election because it is unclear whether votes cast are based on the integrity and leadership capabilities of a candidate or votes cast are made from first-time considerations.

And it is somewhat of a trend in these recent times that the higher the number of candidates in each electorate, the higher the number of election related issues.

Not to mention the important financial implications linked to conducting a costly by-election together with court battles to determine the validity of the election outcomes.

This is no lie as this year alone we have witnessed a couple of by-elections occurring around the country as well as recounts which are on-going.

On the other hand, the performance of parties in elections by regions are another consideration to look at.

When it comes to endorsing candidates, voters tend to identify parties with the party leader. In other words, the home origin of the leader usually determine where candidates are likely to be endorsed.

In addition, political parties have their regional weaknesses and strengths and to top it all off, political parties are not the only competitors in the election arena as far as independent candidates are concerned.

Furthermore, our political system in PNG, it seems, is not undergoing the necessary changes to make it sufficiently conducive to make it women-friendly for women participation at the national level.

From a multi-party system, to short life spans for coalition governments, political horse trading and party hopping, these characteristics together have led to unstable governments since independence.

Elections in PNG have over the years become dominated by personal and local factors rather than broad based social issuesdue to the high turnover rates.

Such practices have contributed to the failure of the political system to consider the needs and hopes of the citizens.

With so much more to tell but so little space let, it is important to remember that we cannot go back and change the beginning, but we can start where we are to change the ending.

Amanda Kundil