Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is considered the frontrunner to retain power as voting kicks off in his country's national election.
Polls open on Saturday and voting finishes on July 8.
For some remote villagers it will be an arduous trek through rugged terrain to get to a polling booth.
And it won't be a cakewalk either for incumbent Mr O'Neill, Lowy Institute Melanesia Program research fellow Jonathan Pryke warns.
There's been an average turnover rate of 50 per cent of MPs at PNG elections since independence in 1975 and no opinion polling is carried out in the country.
The vast majority of electorates are in rural areas where grassroots issues and service delivery will drive the results.
"You really have to look at this not as a national election but as 111 separate local council elections," Mr Pryke told AAP.
Mr O'Neill is also under pressure in his home province and Mr Pryke said if the prime minister doesn't win his seat outright quickly, then others could get a head start on negotiating a coalition to form a government.
But he says Mr O'Neill is likely to win and has more advantages than his challengers.
"He has the biggest party, the most resources, the track record and has proven to be a capable politician," Mr Pryke said.
Corruption allegations have continued to dog the prime minister.
Last year, police in Port Moresby opened fire on a group of students who planned to march from the University of PNG to parliament to demand Mr O'Neill quit over corruption allegations.
Opposition Leader Don Polye's Triumph Heritage Empowerment party doesn't have huge numbers in parliament but a loose coalition of big names including former PNG leaders Michael Somare, Mekere Morauta and Julius Chan is forming.
"The real question is who is going to lead that bloc? There's a lot of personalities in that mix," he said.
Total candidate numbers are down since the 2012 election but 30 more women are running this time.
More than 3300 candidates including 165 women are contesting the poll, representing 44 political parties including the quirky named Wontoks in Godly Service Party, Paradise Kingdom Party and a One Nation Party (not linked with Australia's Pauline Hanson).
In the 42 years since independence, only seven women have been elected to Papua New Guinea's parliament. Australia has trained 127 female political candidates.
There were only three women MPs in the last parliament but Mr Pryke said there was a possibility that could go backwards.
However, gender equality has featured as an issue in the campaign.
The biggest issues facing the victor will be turning around a tanking economy, barrelling budget deficit and fixing the inflated exchange rate suffocating the private sector, Mr Pryke says.
