Skip to main content

Papua New Guinea has two-week voting period



Voting commenced in Papua New Guinea on June 23 and will conclude on Friday July 6.

Jiwaka and Hela are the country’s two new provinces after they broke away from Southern and Western Highlands this year, so it will be the first time for them to vote in their own provincial election. They will begin to vote on Friday June 29. Jiwaka province has about 150,000 eligible voters in the new electorate. Election materials will be airlifted by helicopter to the remote Jimi district to ensure everyone can cast their vote.

Due to many remote regions, the New Zealand High Commission has provided funding to hire boats to deliver election material to Milne Bay and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

The National and the Post-Courier reported some election complaints and delays. Polling in Northern and Milne Bay provinces were affected by bad weather and late payment of police officers. Ballot papers were reported to be delivered late (after midday) to some polling stations in Moresby Northwest of the National Capital District. Some voters also complained that their names were not on the electoral register. However officials claimed that it was due to people not residing in the electorate for the required length of time. And some plantation workers complained that they did not know which date the polling stations would be open at the plantation. Post-Courier reported election-related fighting in Enga province and the provincial police commander ordered the election boxes to be transported under security escort.

Chief electoral commissioner Andrew Trawen confirmed that there were reports of electoral roll problems and delays but these were “sketchy” and he would comment when all information was available.

According to the Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea (www.pngec.gov.pg), voting is not compulsory for both the open electorate and the provincial electorate. Every eligible voter must present his or her small finger to be marked with indelible ink to prevent multiple or fraudulent voting. It is a compulsory requirement before voters receive the two ballot papers. Voters can view the Candidate Posters (with names, photographs, and candidate code numbers) and write, on their ballot papers, the name or candidate code number for their three most preferred candidates.

For a candidate to be elected under the Limited Preferential Voting (LPV) system, the candidate must receive more than 50% + 1 of the total formal votes cast in the election (known as an absolute majority).

Manus province is likely to be the first to declare the winners in its two seats as it is the smallest province and polling stations will wind down on Monday July 2.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more