Transcript
Ahead of polling, the Governor of the National Capital District, Powes Parkop says he has been troubled by inconsistencies in the electoral roll.
Even members of his family who are eligible to vote have found out late in the piece that their names are not on the new version of the roll.
He has criticised the distribution of polling places in the NCD, saying they were often not accessible for local voters, and make the system vulnerable to double voting.
"Electoral Commission needs to shape up and deal with these kinds of basic things that cause problems, cause nuisance. You don't need to be a rocket scientist in Papua New Guinea to know it. You just know that... don't centralise the polling booth. You're going to create mayhem in Port Moresby."
Since polling began on Saturday in some parts of the country, there many complaints about discrepancies in the roll.
As a result, the Electoral Commissioner has allowed for the election to revert back to the preliminary roll, last updated around the start of the year, where needed.
Patilias Gamato said for the first time in a PNG election, there was provision for people to check the roll and submit any objections.
"There are minor issues that we are handling, like the roll issue. I've already made a decision that officials can use the preliminary roll which is near to accurate, or is almost as good, so we can continue to use the preliminary roll and hopefully we can continue the polling."
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission received a visit from an aggrieved group of four candidates contesting Governor Parkop's seat in the capital.
One of them, Steven Kilage, explained that the group have found their names were not on the electoral roll to be used in the election.
“When we initially went in to put our names in, they accepted our forms, signed our forms. If we were not on the common roll, they should not have accepted us. So we were on the common roll, we were registered. We're coming in, final day of voting, and our names have disappeared. That's why we're here (at the Electoral Commission) to find out what happened to our names. (Asked what the implication of this problem was, he said) Well if we win, it could be ruled null and void and go to a by-election.”
But the assurances of the Electoral Commissioner hardly inspired confidence for them.
“The Commission says just rock up and put our names on, just write our names on, and that'll be good enough.”
Meanwhile, Governor Parkop urged as many people to vote as possible.
Despite the many problems in the polling, PNG people usually turn out in high numbers to vote.
