15 Oct 2002

Ghosts names on Southern Highlands electoral roll in PNG a concern

7:11 pm on 15 October 2002

Election officials in Papua New Guinea are concerned at the high number of ghost names on the electoral rolls for the Southern Highlands province.

The Acting Electoral Commissioner, Andrew Trawen says every effort will be made to minimise the problem of people casting multiple votes through ghost names on the rolls during the provincial elections in January.

Fresh elections for six electorates in the Southern Highlands will be held after violence, theft of ballot boxes and voter intimidation hijacked July's general elections.

Mr Trawen says security plans are in place to protect election officers in case of disputes with voters and to stop multiple voting.

"As much as possible we're try to minimise that problem that's why we need more security to prevent people from other electorals to vote or people from within using ghost names to vote. The use of indelible ink, we know that it is difficult for our part we know that those ink they are very secure, people can't remove them."

Andrew Trawen in PNG.