Three former prime ministers have joined the Papua New Guinea opposition to call for the resignation of the country’s current leader, Peter O’Neill, after a long-running corruption scandal escalated to violent protests last month.
The former prime ministers Sir Michael Somare, Sir Julius Chan and Sir Mekere Morauta have all now pledged their support to the opposition in a vote of no confidence in O’Neill to be held on Friday.
Guardian Australia understands a fourth, Sir Paias Wingti, is expected to join them on Wednesday.
The no-confidence motion follows months of student protests that came to a head when police fired live ammunition into a University of Papua New Guinea march, injuring eight people.
Students from several PNG universities had been boycotting classes, calling for the resignation of O’Neill over his refusal to answer questions about a long-running corruption inquiry. Airline pilots and health workers have now joined the protest by going on strike and recent weeks have seen damaging splits in the police ranks.
On Tuesday Mekere said O’Neill was “not a fit and proper person to remain as prime minister” and said the government had shown a lack of accountability and transparency, the Post Courier reported.
Somare cited the rising costs of living in PNG and called for action against an administration “not doing the right thing by us”.
Chan urged the opposition to form a united government with “the best people from both sides” should O’Neill be removed from office.
“[Commit] yourself to truly open transparent government and take real steps to keep those promises worth keeping even if they were made by Peter O’Neill and past government, and make them worth and work,” he said.
O’Neill said he had been aware of Chan’s plan to join the opposition and that he respected the former leader’s decision. He said the country was in a different situation to when Chan was prime minister.
“Government of today is faced by more complex global challenges than at any time in our history,” he said. “We need the next generation of leaders, who are aware of global markets and are schooled in global politics, to lead our nation.”
The deputy leader of O’Neill’s People’s National Congress party, Mao Zeming, accused opposition members of a political stunt with their apology to Somare for not supporting him over O’Neill in 2011 but O’Neill said he respected the former leader’s position in PNG history as “father of the nation”.
However, O’Neill harshly criticised Morauta, accusing him of past corruption and of peddling lies.
While some government MPs have joined calls for O’Neill to step down, the majority have escaped the influence of opposition members in Port Moresby, camped out at Alotau in Milne Bay, ostensibly to “review policies” set several years ago.
O’Neill told the National his support was “increasing every day” but a government press release on Tuesday claiming “more than 80” MPs at Alotau was a drop from the 91 claimed on Sunday.
The deputy prime minister, Leo Dion, said the government team was “united, and we all look forward to demonstrating our number in the chamber on Friday”.
“There is only one person that we see who can guide our nation through current global challenges and that is prime minister Peter O’Neill,” he said.
The deputy opposition leader, Saml Basil, would not comment on the level of support on his side as negotiations were still under way but told Guardian Australia he was “adamant the government will change on Friday”.
“I respect the [Alotau] camp and all I can say is we will have a good vote,” Basil said. “Every Papua New Guinean wants this to happen. The events on Friday will unfold the truth.”
Basil said the support of the former prime ministers reflected the views of Papua New Guineans.
“They are worried about how the leaders are treating the constitution and how Papua New Guinea is run,” he said. “They know that under the leadership of Peter O’Neill we are going to have a lot of problems. They’ve asked for Peter O’Neill to step aside.”
The student shooting was a turning point for the country, Basil said, but there was already widespread dissatisfaction with the running of the economy and numerous corruption scandals and allegations.
“We are on the verge of change to be happening on Friday,” Basil said. “In a normal situation, a good prime minister should and would have stepped down already. We believe if he steps down he won’t be a free man because he has multiple investigations against him.”
At the heart of the political crisis are allegations of corrupt government payments made to a Port Moresby law firm, which O’Neill has been accused of authorising. O’Neill denies the accusation and has said his signature was forged.
In 2014 the PNG anti-corruption taskforce Sweep – which had been set up by O’Neill and had successfully uncovered a number of corrupt acts – turned its sights on the prime minister.
In response to a warrant for his questioning, O’Neill sacked a swathe of high-level government and public officials, including the attorney general and the police chief. He has since gained legal injunctions against the warrant.
O’Neill has maintained the investigation into him made no sense and he was exercising his constitutional right to challenge the warrant.
