PAPUA New Guinea's opposition has lashed out at a plan by Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to restrict nominees for the top job to members of his own party in the event of a motion of no-confidence.
The government is planning to introduce legislation on June 24 restricting candidates to the office of prime minister to members of the largest parliamentary party, according to the Port Moresby-based Post Courier Newspaper.
Deputy opposition leader Sam Basil on Thursday attacked the plan, saying the move shows Mr O'Neill wants to ensure his party, the People's National Congress (PNC), can continue to protect him and his interests.
"What the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is doing is just simply using the numerical strength that he amassed through political intimidation and (district fund) controlled support to pass yet another controversial law to protect his interests," Mr Basil said on Facebook on Thursday.
"After every general elections the Governor General calls for a political party that has the highest number of MP-elect to form the new government. That doesn't mean that this political party has the golden ticket to the Prime Minister's post."
Mr O'Neill, whose PNC is the largest party in the coalition government, is currently on his way back to Port Moresby from a bilateral visit to Japan.
Thursday's newspaper article, which appeared under the headline O'Neill-ocracy, cites a May 28 circular to MPs from the office of the clerk of PNG's national parliament.
It also quotes Mr O'Neill as saying that under the legislation if a party fails to secure the numbers to rule, Parliament can elect any MP from the floor to be PM.
He has recently come to loggerheads with the country's Ombudsman Commission over a controversial $A1.3 billion loan from Swiss investment bank UBS to buy back shares in Oil Search Limited.
After the watchdog announced it was investigating and ordered a freeze on the deal, Mr O'Neill publicly urged the ombudsman to back down on the grounds it would trigger a loan default - a move criticised on Thursday by former treasurer Don Polye.
Mr O'Neill has also been accused of authorising illegal payments to a controversial PNG law firm, Paul Paraka lawyers - a claim Mr O'Neill has strenuously, and repeatedly, denied.
The executive director of PNG's Institute of National Affairs, Paul Barker, told AAP that parliament should retain the right to remove an incompetent government with another that is more suitable.
"Although political stability is valuable, and frivolous votes of no-confidence should not be entertained, it remains a constitutional responsibility of the legislature to act as check and balance on the government of the day," he said.
He said there were two ways to look at Mr O'Neill's latest move.
On the one hand, Mr O'Neill may be trying to protect his party programs and legacy.
"More negative observers might suggest that there is much more at stake in terms of vested interests over retaining power," Mr Barker said.
"He's clearly afraid of something."
A spokesman for Mr O'Neill on Thursday night said the constitutional amendments were proposed by PNG's constitutional law reform commission and the registrar of political parties, and not by Prime Minister O'Neill or the PNC.
"The (news) story is not PO's (Peter O'Neill) or the PNC's initiative," he said.
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