THE Electoral Commissioner has condemned the actions of candidates and supporters that instigated the destruction of election materials; this is in relation to Markham and Kabwum in Morobe Province.

Ballot boxes and ballot papers were seen broken and burnt, scattered across the counting center; Papua New Guineans viewing the aftermath of the destruction through pictures on social media.

The question is who is to be blamed? The Electoral Commissioner, Simon Siani in a Media conference on Sunday (July 17) blamed “an aggrieved candidate” and his supporters for the destruction of the counting center in Markham.

The Electoral Commissioner has resorted to not taking some of the blame, stating that they are just facilitators of the electoral process and it’s the public that have to take ownership of the process and not resort to fighting and destroying the process, instead embracing it as an opportunity to express their democratic right.

“For the Electoral Commission I am satisfied and I am sure that I have done what I am supposed to do and what I am tasked to do as the election management body in the country, don’t blame the Electoral Commission that I have not done my work, the ballot boxes were bought to your door step, but people are fighting destroying ballot papers and ballot boxes what type message are we sending to the world,” Sinai said

The world is obviously seeing the destruction and chaos and will know of the violence through the many international observers and pictures and news on social media.

People are crying for a failed election but Sinai says that the process to declare the election in Markham and Kabwum as failed takes time and we could see the people go back to the polls.

“We are working together with Police and the security forces, at the end of the day the Electoral Commission is the Authority that will assess all the situations, where there is a need to have another polling we do that, if there needs to be counting we continue, but we will need a complete report from the officers in the provinces,” Sinai said

The Commissioner did consider some responsibility on their part stating that some of their tardiness could have caused a trigger to some of the actions by the public but says it’s a different demographic across the nation and people have a different approach towards elections.

“To some extent, there are contributing factors people are different, people going late to the polls or not having their names on the roll can trigger violence, but there are a host of different views and different understandings of how the people view the electoral process,” Sinai said

Sinai added that the process to declare a failed election in parts of Papua New Guinea is a process and will be made known once the writs are returned, Sinai also said the process includes meeting with their legal team as well to ensure that all processes are followed to make the hard decisions.

It is not only the Morobe Province experiencing a destruction of the democratic process, districts in Enga Province, Kompiam and Pogera have been facing issues which include the hijacking of ballot boxes and the destruction of property.

Social media, the access to android phones and other advances in technology have put to the limelight, the National General Election; the country is aware that not all the elections that took place have ended smoothly.

The destruction of properties, hijacking of ballot boxes and the destruction of ballot papers during the electoral process is not new to Papua New Guinea but seeing the pictures and videos of the blatant disregard of a fair and free electoral process spread across social media is a reality that no longer remains in folklore.

The Electoral Commission’s lack of update of the voter roll, group voting, underage voting, double voting, hijacking of ballot papers, burning of ballot papers and destruction of property are compounding factors that seem to justify some act of violence towards the electoral process, in each instance it has become normal to most and a talking point of discussion, yet the situation seems to reach the extreme every election year.

Electoral Commissioner, Simon Sinai at a media conference admitted that having a new election management system in place could mitigate some of the issues being faced during the elections; he added that there are many options available.

“We have seen all these things happen before, even the first past the post system in the past had bought many problems, we changed it to the Limited Preferential Voting system, we thought it would alleviate some of these issues but the trend has not even improved; we look forward to working on finding better ways to improve the elections,” Sinai said.

There is more work to be done in the next five years before the next National General Elections, but the options for new and better ways to conduct elections according to Sinai must be accepted by the people of Papua New Guinea.

“We have talked with Government about the voter roll and electronic voting but there are many ways we can improve the election management system, we have discussed about bio-metric voting but Papua New Guineans must be ready to accept this situation, we should work with systems that we can understand,” Sinai said

THE case of the two Assistant Returning Officers for Rigo East and North has been handed over to the NCD Investigations Task Force Unit (NCD ITF).

According to PPC Central, John Midi, the two were brought in for questioning after police found a police uniform and 2x 9mm bullets in their possession.

PPC Midi said NCD ITF is now in charge of the investigation and will lay formal charges after investigations are completed.

However PPC Midi is yet to confirm whether or not the two AROs’ were released from police custody.

ITF investigators are also yet to confirm the charges.

Police confiscated the uniform and live ammunition during a search last night at the Bomana Correctional Institute; the counting venue for Rigo, Abau and Goilala.

The items were confiscated inside their official vehicles.

NCD ITF is a police unit responsible for all election related offences.

Meanwhile, Rigo candidates and scrutineers have signed a petition and presented it to Electoral Commission officers this afternoon at Bomana.

The petition highlights five demands for EC to consider.

This move has now delayed counting for Rigo Open Seat.

They want EC to suspend the Returning Officer for Rigo and the two AROs’ involved in the investigation. The petition also calls for the exclusion of nine counting officials believed to be accompanying the Returning Officers for Rigo East and Rigo North.

The other point highlighted in the petition include their dispute for ballot boxes for inland Rigo (Bore and Biga). They say the ballot boxes arrived a week later and must not be included for counting.

Another concern in the petition by candidates and scrutineers is for EC to swap the counting officials for Rigo and Abau.

Their petition is now before the Electoral Commissioner, Simon Sinai to respond to.

They say counting must not start unless their demands are met.

ELEVEN candidates contesting the Kandrian-Gloucester Open Seat in West New Britain have signed and presented a 4-page petition to Electoral Commission Officers in Kimbe.

The petition was presented this morning at around 9am to the Provincial Manageress, Emily Kelton, PRO for Kandrian Gloucester, APRO’ s and the West New Britain Provincial Election Steering Committee.

The petitioners believe there are anomalies and discrepancies noted by their scrutineers during counting.

Particularly for ballot boxes 17 and 18 Ward 2 and 3, count 2 and 3 for Kandrian coastal, and box 33 of Kandrian inland during count 7 for Ward 7. 

The 11 candidates believe responsible EC officers have bypassed election laws by not putting aside the concerned ballot boxes.

For box 17 and 18, the petitioners say their scrutineers noted that from the three preferences only three particular candidates were chosen with a similar handwriting on all ballot papers. They believe this is unlikely to happen given the high number of candidates in that area who are contesting. 

They are calling for proper quality checks to verify their query. They believe the ballot papers were not lawfully casted and were tampered with. They referred to Section 53 A of the Organic Law on National and Local Level Government which states excluding ballot box from scrutiny.

The other objection highlighted in the petition was for box 33. 

Scrutineers for the 11 candidates reported that part of the outer sealing was partly broken. According to the petition, the scrutineers queried counting officials and demand for box 33 to be set aside but were dismissed. 

The 11 petitioners demand that box 33 must not be counted until further verification is done with ballot paper butts by polling officials if the number of people voted in that area corresponds.

The petitioners believe electoral officers have bypassed Section 22 of the Organic Law on National and Local Level Government which states the proper sealing of the ballot box after polling. 

The petitioners believe the Returning Officer for Kandrian-Gloucester did not adhere to election laws. 

They are now calling on the Provincial Returning Officer, Emily Kelton to respond to their petition. 

This is the second election petition received by PRO Kelton. Last week candidates contesting the Nakanai Open Seat also presented a petition calling for a recount of ballot boxes for Hoskins LLG. 

This also prompted the Nakanai ARO to step aside while PRO Kelton assured the candidates that quality checks will be done.

ASSISTANT Returning Officers for RigoEast, Ruga Amo, and Rigo North, Kone Burana, were taken to the Boroko Police Station for questioning around 9pm last night.

According to NCD police, a regular check at the Bomana counting venue led to the finding of live ammunition and police field uniforms inside the AROs’ official vehicles.

They were then taken to Boroko Police Station and interrogated and their vehicles impounded.

Police said the ammunition and uniforms were found concealed between the seats.

Police Investigators will be filing a brief report to the NCD Metropolitan Superintendent, Gideon Ikumu.

At the time of publishing this story, no charges were laid as police will continue investigations into this case.

The Bomana Correctional Service is hosting counting for Rigo and Goilala Open seats.

Inside PNG will be following this story as it develops.

Incumbent Kompiam Ambum MP, Sir John Pundari has called on the Electoral Commission to conduct counting for the Open Seat outside of Enga Province.

This follows the destruction and burning of State assets by supporters of rival candidates.

He made this appeal in a news statement.

“The situation is highly volatile and it is unsafe to count in Enga, therefore I humbly ask the EC to consider counting outside of the Province and consider each district and their election related issues on a case by case basis,” said Sir John.

Speaking in Enga Sir John called on all leaders of the Province to address the election related violence that is tearing the province apart and has left many families displaced.

“We cannot blame the Electoral Commission and security personnel for criminal activities carried out by candidates or supporters. We need to come out clear and condemn these acts in the strongest possible terms”, he added.

“My district has lost Government properties worth hundreds of millions of Kina and I am shattered for my people and the public servants who have fled to seek refuge.”

“Kompiam Ambum never experienced such violence in the past election years.”

Sir John said the assets burnt down will take time to rebuild and the younger generation have been deprived of their rights to education and other basic government services.

The incumbent Kompiam Album MP said leaders must now provide appropriate leadership during this time of chaos and violence.

“The People’s Party founder, Governor Peter Ipatas is a part of the current Marape Government and cannot continue to blame the government which he is a part of, by shifting blame to the EC or the Police.”

Sir John said that if there was any complaint of ballot box hijacking, leaders and candidates should know there is a process in place for dispute.

They need to present evidence to the Electoral Commission and not through violence and destruction by use of guns and criminal acts, said Sir John.

He reiterated that there are laws to deal with election anomalies and does not warrant violence as the next cause of action to justify claims of foul play.

“My supporters and I will cooperate and support investigations into these atrocities,” said Sir John.

They must be investigated and arrested by the police.

“I feel for my people who have lost lives and properties in this unprovoked and unexpected conflict we were not prepared for. Our call for support from the security forces fell short. We also understand that the security forces were stretched and could not do much.”

Sir John also expressed his sorrow and pain for the innocent mothers and children who have been displaced and traumatized.

I will ensure justice is done to the people of Kompiam Ambum, he concluded.

by Bradley Valenaki & Abel Gabarura

SIX ballot boxes were brought into Port Moresby from the Mt. Koiari areas via the Kokoda track after the designated helicopter that was supposed to airlift the sensitive election materials failed to turn up.

Escorted by youths and a lone police office, the boxes containing votes from villages along the famous Kokoda track arrived at the Owers’ corner on three separate days.

A ward councilor from Kagi was part of the team that brought in the ballot boxes from Efogi, Kagi and Manari, villagers in the hinterlands of Central’s new Hiri-Koiari electorate.

At Owers’ Corner, the boxes were handed over to electoral staff of Central province before being brought in for counting.

The youths when speaking to the officials expressed disappointment at the Electoral Commission for not transporting the items into Port Moresby.

They also demanded compensation as it was risky bringing the ballot papers on foot.

It took them at least two to three days to bring in the ballot boxes from the three locations.

by Bradley Valenaki

FIVE candidates contesting the NCD Regional seat have demanded appropriate actions be taken before counting commences.

This they say will ensure transparency in the counting process.

The candidates include, runner-up of 2017 Andy Bawa, 2012 runner-up Michael Kandiu, former topcop Fred Yakasa, ULP candidate Steven Kilage and former beauty queen and People’s Party, Sylvia Pascoe.

In a written letter addressed to the NCD Election Manager, Kila Ralai, the candidates demanded 14 actions.

1. NCD Regional candidates given access to inspect counting venues ahead of count.

2. Primary counts for Provincial must commence together with open electorates.

3. Set-up of CCTV cameras at all counting venues.

4. No police officers to be in counting room.

5. Installation of billboards for further verification.

6. Counting to only take place during day time.

7. Scrutineers representing Regional candidates must be present for authentication.

8. Details of official vehicles entering counting premises to be passed on to candidates.

9. Allow additional security checks at gate by appointed regional candidates.

10. Counting should be live streamed using social media.

11. Disrupted polling at ATS ward 9 should commence before counting.

12. Presiding officers must present their returns at counting venues.

13. No counting official must be from NCD.

14. Security at counting venues must not disperse supporters and scrutineers camped outside.

The Election Manager Kila Ralai addressed the regional candidates on Tuesday this week at the Rita Flynn netball courts, the designated location for Moresby South counting.

It was there, that he also called on the aspiring politicians to control their supporters and not to interfere with the process.

With all set for counting to commence yesterday in Port Moresby, it appears a further delay has been sort to allow training of officials for counting.

Mr. Ralai confirms budget constraints has led to the cut down and engagement of limited counting officials who will be on shift operations during the count in NCD.

NCD has has gone through two deferrals in polling with Moresby North-East seeing a third.

As it enters counting, the demands and pressure of the candidates and their supporters may drag on even further.

Whatever the outcome, there are only 13 days left before writs close on the 29th of July.