Voting is underway in Papua New Guinea (PNG) this week as the nation picks its leaders for the next five years. What scarred the election campaigning this year were the dozens of deaths reported over election-related incidents. Historically, violence, election fraud and vote rigging were found to have impacted the country’s elections. The role of harmful online rumours and misinformation in undermining the integrity of an election cannot be overlooked. Here at CMT, we have identified the most prominent narratives that emerged online.
A false rumour about a purported ‘illegal army’ forming in the Highlands province of Hela was circulating online and in print in the last two weeks of the campaigns. The claim cited boxes of defence force uniforms being ‘brought in on a chartered plane’ as reason for caution. However, that claim has since been dismissed by incumbent Prime Minister James Marape, whose office posted on Facebook on June 26 that ‘there is no illegal army being assembled in Hela as Post-Courier falsely claims’.
Narratives such as this fan fears of purported military involvement in the election and add to already heightened tensions. Fighting among voters was also reported during the last election in 2017, with armed police and soldiers being sent to parts of Hela to maintain order. Problematic narratives that spring up before elections are now a global phenomenon — that is why it is more important than ever for news media to consider very carefully what to publish both online and offline, and to craft their headlines without amplifying falsehoods.
Election-related violence can be exacerbated by online misinformation, especially in a place such as PNG, which is already marred by pandemic-driven unemployment and ethnic rivalries. An example of how false and misleading narratives have caused harm in PNG is misinformation about the Covid vaccines, which has sabotaged the health of the local communities in the shape of unverified claims, rumours and false information. Protests against vaccine requirements in certain businesses and attacks on health workers giving out vaccines have been reported across the country. As of June 27, only 3 percent of the population are fully vaccinated — more than a year after the vaccine rollout began.
Esther Chan, CMT Research Fellow
This featured in our newsletter of 8 July - Click to read the full edition.
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