There have been two reported deaths in the Tewai-Siassi district of the Morobe province and Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato has come out saying they are not election related deaths.
When giving an update on the election progress across the country, Commissioner Gamato said the deaths allegedly resulted from a fight.
“It’s over land issues but polling is going as scheduled in some parts in Tewai-Siassi.
“Tewai-Siassi has three LLGs; Sialum rural, Siassi rural and Wasu rural, so this fight is in Wasu.
“Otherwise polling in the other two LLGs is progressing as scheduled,” he said.
Meanwhile, polling has commenced across the Morobe province in most electorates.
In Bulolo district, all electoral and security teams were deployed on Monday and polling is set for today.
For Mumeng Rural in Bulolo, teams were deployed on Friday and Gamato said polling will go ahead as scheduled.
In the Waria rural LLG, there was a delay in the dispatching of teams due to the weather and its remoteness. The same went for Garaina.
“It’s a remote area in Garaina, and as soon as they send teams in, we will start polling,” Gamato said.
In Wau rural, he said teams were not initially deployed due to issues of polling allowances, shortage of ballot papers, polling advances and other stationery. They are expected to start once those are sorted out.
As for Watut rural, Gamato said polling is progressing as scheduled.
“For Wau/Bulolo urban, teams have not yet been deployed due to lack of security and police presence.
“As you know, Wau/Bulolo is a hotspot so we would like police to be there before we start polling.”
He said Finschhafen started polling but due to weather and cloud cover, some areas were not accessible by the teams for materials to be brought in.
In the Huon Gulf area, Gamato said all teams have been deployed and polling has commenced.
For Kabwum, teams have been deployed and polling is progressing as scheduled.
In Markham, the three LLGs started polling except for one or two due to chopper insertion. Apart from that, Gamato said all LLG teams have been deployed into Markham.