The Madang Open electorate has been without a member of parliament (MP) for over a year after former MP Bryan Kramer was dismissed from office on the 24th of May 2023 after being found guilty on seven counts of misconduct in office.
His dismissal has also barred him from contesting for public office for five years. He can compete in the 2032 elections.
The vacuum created by this has tremendously affected service delivery and leadership in the electorate.
A by-election is anticipated for February this year. However, Provincial Returning Officer Sponsa Navi, said dates have not been released yet by the PNG Electoral Commission.
“The by-election will be on, definitely. The only thing is that the dates are not set. The (Electoral) Commissioner will announce any time. I’m not sure whether it’s this month, early this month, (or) end of next month,” said Mr. Navi.
The Provincial Returning Officer hopes that when the dates are released, they will have no problem with updating the common roll as the groundwork has already begun for Madang’s census records in preparation for the Local Level Government elections.
Navi said the Provincial Electoral Commission office is prepared to deliver the by-election, the census roll update exercise and the LLG elections this year.