Local-level Government Elections, 20-25 July 2019 

Volcanic eruption of Mt Ulawun, 26 June 2019 

In late June 2019, around 7,000–13,000 villagers were displaced due to the volcanic eruption of Mt Ulawun in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The eruption destroyed residential buildings, farmland and water wells. As many as 1,000 homes were destroyed and ash from the volcano disrupted domestic flights. A state of emergency was declared, with the military deployed to assess and assist residents. The emergency response was obstructed due to the closure of the regional airport which was covered by several centimetres of ash (Bevege 2019; Bangkok Post/AFP 2019).  

Impact on the electoral process 

The eruption took place one day before the nomination period for the local government election (27 June to 4 July) (RNZ 2019). On 2 July 2019, the Papua New Guinea election commission postponed the elections in all West New Britain jurisdictions that were affected (Kuku 2019). Elsewhere in the country, local elections went ahead between 20 and 25 July 2019 (IFES 2019), whereas West New Britain localities voted on 5 August 2019 (The National 2019). This marked a delay of 16 days.