The president-elect of Bougainville has thanked the region's voters for giving him the mandate to pursue independence from Papua New Guinea.
Ismael Toroama Photo: Facebook
The ex-rebel commander, Ishmael Toroama, yesterday won a clear majority to take over the presidency.
In his acceptance speech, Toroama appeared to hit back at allegations from the outgoing president, John Momis, who suggested there had been corruption in the poll.
"The people have clearly spoken as there is a big gap between me and the next candidate.
"We conducted a clean campaign. We did not give money to the voters and we did not intimidate any voters. People have used their God-given wisdom to vote for the right candidate."
Toroama, who was a commander in the Bougainville Revolutionary Army during the civil war of the 1990s, said his government would continue work towards implementing the wishes of Bougainvilleans including pushing ahead with the region's drive for independence.
He will form a government to implement last year's referendum result, which saw Bougainvilleans overwhelmingly back independence from PNG with nearly 98 percent of the more than 181,000 voters supporting such an outcome.
Meanwhile the PNG Prime Minister, James Marape, congratulated Toroama on his election.
Marape said he looked forward to working with him to secure the outcome of the referendum.
Marape indicated he would meet Toroama in the coming weeks to discuss the next steps of the independence process.
Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape at the Pacific Islands Forum Summit in Tuvalu, 2019. Photo: RNZ / Jamie Tahana
