Majority in Gazelle denied voting rights

News that matter in Papua New Guinea

Counting officials for the Rabaul Open seat doing quality checks for the first count. – Picture supplied

Majority in Gazelle denied voting rights

PORT MORESBY: The number of Papua New Guineans denied their voting rights in East New Britain’s Gazelle is higher than those who managed to cast their ballots, Election Returning Officer John Watovo says.

“Polling has not been smooth in almost all the villages but election officials still managed to complete the week-long polling on time,” he added.

“The data we collated showed the majority were denied their constitutional rights to vote (because their names were not in the Common Roll),” he said.

PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces below the shocking revelation by the RO in Gazelle and a few General Election 2022 news updates as published by The National:

Majority miss out on voting

July 13, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By MICHAEL PHILIP
THE number of Papua New Guineans denied their voting rights in East New Britain’s Gazelle is higher than those who managed to cast their ballots, Election Returning Officer John Wartovo says.
“Polling has not been smooth in almost all villages but election officials still managed to complete week-long polling on time,” he said.
“The data we collated showed the majority were denied their constitutional rights to vote (because their names were not in the roll).”
However, Wartovo said counting of ballots would proceed today, as scheduled by the Electoral Commission (EC), despite the roll issue.
“The roll issue is beyond our control. We cannot do much about it because we have done our part sending all the names to Port Moresby for them to update,” he said.
“It is now up to the EC resolve the roll issue. We are just custodians, so we will proceed with the counting according to what that has already been scheduled.”
Wartovo, when asked if they had any plans to improve and avoid such issues in the next general election, said the EC needed to give election officials and workers the power with funding support that would help updating the printed common roll at the provincial level.
“Updating the common roll involves a lot of process,” he said.
“Why can they (EC) give us the green light to update the common roll. I believe this will cut short the process, instead of us sending all the data entry to Port Moresby.
“For 2027, we plan to ask the EC to give us the power to update the common roll in the province.
“However, despite all the issues that we have encountered during polling, we are ready for the counting.”


Counting for seats in East New Britain begins

Counting officials for the Rabaul Open seat doing quality checks for the first count. – Picture supplied

COUNTING for East New Britain’s Kokopo, Rabaul and Pomio Open seats and regional seat, began yesterday.
Counting for Kokopo started at 11am and Returning Officer Darius Kunai had suspended the counting on Monday afternoon.
According to Kunai, 27 ballot boxes were returned from the four local level governments of Kokopo-Vunamami Urban (9), Bitapaka (8), Raluana (5) and Duke of York (5).
Provincial election manager Joap Voivoi confirmed that there were 140 ballot boxes for the regional seat. Counting started with the boxes from the Central Gazelle LLG.
He said three groups of counting officials were sorting the ballot papers of the 23 candidates contesting the regional seat.
Counting for the Gazelle Open is expected to start today.
Counting venues are: Kokopo – Vunapope Diocesan Hall; Rabaul – Malaguna Technical Secondary School; Gazelle – Gaulim Teachers College Hall; Pomio – West Mamusi council chamber, Palmalmal; Regional – Kokopo Technical Secondary School Hall.
Meanwhile, deputy provincial administrator in-charge of socio-economic services Levi Mano urged the counting officials to be fair and honest.


Cheating, abuse of rules common during elections, says Barker

CHEATING and the abuse of rules are common during PNG general elections, says Institute of National Affairs (INA) executive director Paul Barker.
Barker said it had resulted in some individuals voting multiple times, moving on to another polling station or even constituency to cast votes for their clansman or presumably for some reward.
He said some used the names of others on the list, denying them a chance to cast their own vote.
“Some scrutineers or supporters illegally assist (especially) female voters to cast their votes,” he said.
“And we’ve already seen cases of ballot boxes having been tampered with before votes have been cast, plus an array of other abuses.
“This behaviour is criminal and leads to potential failed election in that seat or, at least, severe doubt over the validity of the electoral outcome.”
He said also common were reports of large sums of money or goods being distributed by candidates, or demanded by some voters.
“Invariably, there’s a high level of distrust among candidates and voters, especially of certain candidates, who are known to be prone to cheating during past elections, or perceived as suspicious in their current actions,” he said.
“So candidates and voters alike want to see a transparent process from the start right through to the end of counting and beyond.
“Knowing the apparent rewards for gaining office or having their candidate win, there is excessive inducement for the less honest candidates and voters, and sometimes officials to commit criminal acts.
“At the end of the day, everyone is a loser from this malpractice, as it denies the voters their preferred choice of candidate, and undermines the credibility and therefore legitimacy of the whole process and outcome.”
Barker said preparation for the next general election must begin soon after this election.
They must include reforms or rectifying problems identified in the conduct of elections, updating systems and databases, reviewing the boundaries as appropriate, appointing staff, strengthening management and oversight mechanisms.

Polling extended for LLG

July 13, 2022The NationalMain Stories

KEREMA Urban Local Level Government (LLG) has been given another day for polling – tomorrow – following complaints of names missing in the common roll, an official says.
Gulf election manager and returning officer Poevare Tore confirmed the issue was raised with the electoral commission to use the 2017 common roll as a supplementary list to conduct polling.
“We received the approval after the Kerema Urban LLG polling was disrupted last week as many missed out on polling,” he said.
Tore said polling teams for the other nine LLGs were also issued the supplementary list from 2017 before they left.
“Up to date, the LLGs are using the 2022 common roll, but if names of voters are not found in that roll, they will use the 2017 so that there won’t be any more confusion.” he said.
Tore said the extended polling dates, especially for Kerema Urban, gave ample time for those who had missed out to cast their votes in a one-day polling approved by the provincial election steering committee.
“The committee has decided to conduct a day’s polling (today) to ensure all locals from the nine wards of the Urban LLG will gather at town’s basketball court where the polling station will be set up for the activity,” he said.
Tore said other LLG polling teams were almost done and was looking forward to the counting.
The only local level governments expected to complete polling by Friday are Kotidanga, Kaintiba and East and West Kikori LLG areas.


Kairuku ballots set for counting

People camping outside Murray Barracks in Port Moresby yesterday. Kairuku is the first out of four electorates in Central to transport their ballot boxes to the counting venue at Murray Barracks. – Nationalpic by KENNEDY BANI

KAIRUKU was the first of Central’s four electorates to transport their ballot boxes to the counting venue in Port Moresby, an official says.
Returning officer Henry Oa said 50 ballot boxes safely arrived at the counting centre in Murray Barracks on Monday afternoon.
“Twenty-five boxes are for the open seat and the other twenty-five are for the regional seat,” he said.
“These boxes are locked in a container and the container is in front of the Murray Barracks gymnasium.”
Oa said counting for Kairuku will commence on Thursday as Tuesday and Wednesday were days given to officials to prepare.
“On Tuesday, we had a brief, on Wednesday we will conduct training for the polling officials and on Thursday, counting for Kairuku will begin,” he said.
Oa said during the six days of polling, there were no reports of serious issues encountered.
“Many villagers missed out on voting and there were many complaints and arguments between them and the polling officials,” he said.
“There were no serious issues such as election-related violence, the Kairuku people had a calm polling.”
Oa said polling began in July 4 and ended on July 9.


Manus polling tomorrow, counting in ENB starts

POLLING in Manus commenced on Thursday and is expected to end next Thursday with counting of ballots starting on Monday, Commander Chief Insp Kiweri Kesambi says.
“We are giving time to all the polling teams to return to Lorengau before we start counting the ballots,” he said.
Kesambi said the counting venue for the two seats, Manus provincial and open, would be conducted at the Lorengau main market.
“Polling in the province had been quiet with no major incident,” he said.
“The only issue we faced was the names of many eligible voters were missing from the printed common roll.”
While giving the election updates in the province, Kesambi also urged everyone to respect the counting process and not cause disturbances.
Polling for all the four local level government areas of Balanataman, Kombiu, Watom Island and Rabaul urban in East New Britain were completed on Friday and the counting was scheduled for yesterday at the Malaguna Technical Secondary School hall.
Counting for Kokopo and East New Britain provincial seat also commenced yesterday, while counting for Gazelle is schedule for tomorrow.

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