Voting has begun in Papua New Guinea and will continue until July 22 amid strong security measures to avoid the violence of the 2017 poll which left more than 200 people dead.
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More than 10,000 police and soldiers have been deployed across the country as voters elect 118 MPs to form a government.
The Pangu Party of Prime Minister James Marape and the People's National Congress Party of former prime minister Peter O'Neill, who resigned in 2019 over discontent following a controversial gas deal, are the favourites.
On Thursday in the town of Nipa-Kutubu, in the interior of the country, the house of lawmaker Jeffery Komal was burnt on Thursday, the Post Courier newspaper reported.
Two rival groups last month threw stones and set fire to the vehicles of the opposing party's candidates in the highlands town of Mount Hagen where 204 people were killed in the previous election.
Then, the violence was partially linked to tribal conflicts, exacerbated by the electoral process, according to a report published by the Australian National University on the 2017 elections.
The elections could lead to a shift in the make-up of parliament, where all members are men, if people elect some of the 167 female candidates, who represent 5 per cent of the 3625 applicants for a seat for the next five years.
Elections in PNG, which gained independence from Australia in 1975, are especially important in the Pacific after the signing of a security pact between China and the Solomon Islands in April.
This generated fears in Canberra, Wellington and Washington due to Beijing's push to impose its influence more in the Pacific region.
Australian Associated Press