The integrity of Bougainville's presidency has been undermined by too many people running for the post, an election candidate says.
Bougainvilleans head to the polls in 2019's independence referendum. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
Polling for the autonomous Papua New Guinea region's local elections is set for August.
There are two dozen candidates vying to replace the retiring president John Momis.
But Donald Hamao, who is running for the Haku seat on Buka Island, said this was not a good look for Bougainville.
Instead he would like to see a preliminary regional selection to whittle the numbers down.
"Probably have an inhouse election in the regions, like north, central and south Bougainville," Mr Hamao explained.
"Do an inhouse selection prior to the general election, so that would minimise the candidates to three - that's what I propose to do.