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.
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