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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.
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