PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea prime minister Peter O’Neill has seen off an opposition attempt to throw out the country’s government.

O’Neill is set to remain in power until 2017 National Elections after a proposed vote of no confidence motion by the opposition was declared “defective, null and void” by the acting speaker of parliament on Thursday.

As soon as the ruling was made, government MPs then moved for a “vote of confidence” in the prime minister instead.

As voting was about to be taken, opposition MPs in protest stormed out of the parliament ary chambers claiming the government had used its numerical strength to hijack a democratic process.

O’Neill won subsequent the vote of confidence in himself by 78 votes to two.

He had been potentially facing a vote of no confidence tabled by the opposition, which wanted allegations of official corruption against him to be dealt with by the police and courts.

But the opposition’s motion was rejected by the acting speaker, who said it was defective and would not even be debated.

The opposition then walked out of parliament in protest, but O’Neill said the acting speaker followed proper procedure.

“He followed the process today, it wasn’t as if the process was hijacked,” he said.

“He determined the matter that needed to be dealt with. He saw it was defective, he rejected it.”

O’Neill said if he had lost the confidence vote, he would have resigned.

Opposition leader Don Polye said the opposition would rewrite the no confidence motion and submit it again.

“We will look at the reasons and make an immediate re-submission of the motion to the acting speaker,” he said.

“We will not give up, we will continue to file the motion of no confidence in the prime minister Peter O’Neill.”

Polye said MPs needed the chance to properly debate the motion.

“We know he has forced members of parliament, luring them, forcing them to vote for himself,” he said. “We know that is not real, that is fake, the support really doesn’t exist.

“He is doing all that he can to hold on to power.”

O’Neill urged the opposition to abandon the attempt, saying MPs should focus instead on the upcoming national budget.

“We don’t want this matter to drag into next week,” he said.

“The only responsible thing to do is dispose of it immediately so the members can have the opportunity to express their views.”

- ABC