21 Feb 2018

Papua election candidates' indigenousness confirmed

2:58 pm on 21 February 2018

The Papuan People's Assembly in Indonesia has cleared the indigenous credentials of candidates for the upcoming provincial gubernatorial elections.

RNZI's Johnny Blades and Koroi Hawkins finally get to interview the extremely elusive Governor of Papua Province Lukas Enembe.

RNZ Pacific's Johnny Blades (right) interviews Lukas Enembe. Photo: RNZI/Koroi Hawkins

After days of postponement, the Papua Elections Commission announced that incumbent Lukas Enembe and challenger John Wempi Wetipo would compete in June's election for Governor.

According to the Jakarta Post, Papua province was late in submitting candidates' verification documents to the Commission.

The 2001 Special Autonomy Law established by Indonesia in Papua stipulates that all candidates for Governor, and their running mates, must be indigenous Papuans.

The Assembly has conducted a factual verification on the candidates and confirmed they all originate from Papua.