Power outage halts New Ireland by-election count; resumes today as Chan leads tally

Counting for the New Ireland Provincial Seat by-election is set to resume today after a weekend power outage brought progress to a standstill on Sunday.

As of 7:00pm on Saturday, January 31, officials concluded Count 5, which covered five Local Level Governments [LLGs] in Nimamar, Tikana, Namatanai, Tanir, and Sentral Niu Ailan.

The current standings show Byron Chan of the People's Progress Party [PPP] maintaining a significant lead over the independent and opposition challengers.

Chan took an early lead of 3162 votes with independent candidate Kepas Wali running second with 1932 votes and National Alliance’s Joshua Takin Soi on third spot with 1617. Moses Taram [361] and Chris Gai [321] are hanging in 4th and 5th place, respectively.

While the first day of counting saw steady progress, a widespread power blackout on Sunday forced election officials to cancel the day's proceedings. No ballots were processed on February 1st.

Counting is scheduled to resume this morning, Monday, February 2, 2026.

Data from five additional LLGs are still pending. These boxes are expected to be critical in determining whether Chan can maintain his lead or if Wali and Soi will bridge the gap. The remaining areas include Murat, Lavongai, Kavieng Urban, Konoagil and Matalai.