2017 General Elections

Nominations for NCD regional seat opened yesterday with sitting Governor Powes Parkop, nominating upon the hour of the issue of writs at 4:15pm.

Terence Hetinu, Election Manager NCD and Provincial Returning Officer confirmed four more for the regional seat today, all independent candidates.

Hetinu said nominations are coming in a little bit slow, but should pick up around the last three days before the close of nominations on Thursday, April 27.

In respect to Form 29 filled prior, Hetinu says there is an expected total of 44 candidates for the regional seat.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato said he is quite pleased with the tremendous effort put in by temporary electoral workers in updating the roll.

He said the preliminary roll will be used for nominations when the 2017 election writs are open on April 20.

“What this means is that the process of updating the 2017 roll (will) continue until all verification is completed right across the country,” he said.

Currently, the preliminary roll is displayed publicly in all electorates for voter verification and objection.

 This is the first time that such a plan has been launched to support the 2017 National Elections.

Clear directions from the Government were to make sure that the Elections are free and fair and that they are conducted in a cost effective manner.

The directions were a result of a number of Observer Reports in the seven elections that the country has had so far.

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary, William Dihm, said this success has resulted in stronger connections which will lead to positive results.

He stated this during the briefing of the diplomatic community on the 2017 General Elections and APEC 2018 yesterday.

“We’ve had a fruitful year and we (now) have stronger connection. And I think it’s a win-win situation for your side and our side by having that kind of benefit,” said Dihm.

The security force will comprise of members of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, the PNG Defence Force, and the Correctional Services.

Both the PNGDF and the CS will contribute 500 personnel each while the RPNG makes up the majority of the security force.

Personnel will be deployed in March to begin its intelligence gathering and surveillance programs of identified hot spot areas prone to violence during election periods. The hot spot areas covers both land and sea (piracy).

This is part of a guns moratorium strategy by the Security Force arm of the Inter-Departmental Election Committee (IDEC) to restrict and prevent potential gun violence during the 2017 General Elections.

“The guns moratorium will come into effect and that’s going to be one of the strategies we will use to mitigate issues of threats confronting us,” Baki said.

PNGEC wants to ensure that it has an accurate and credible roll for the upcoming elections.

Progressive reports presented by the Electoral Commissioner, Patilias Gamato, at the National Council of Women’s workshop last week, showed projects that started in Alotau, Rigo and Kokopo District, are in their advanced stages.

Four weeks ago, K2.5 million was dispatched to provinces. This funding will be followed by another K3.2 million, to provide further support for the provinces in their updating exercises, says Gamato.

This was after the People’s Progress Party (PPP) Leader Ben Micah spoke in a public awareness at the Lorengau Market last week, which was packed with both the locals as well as the asylum seekers.

Lorengau town mayor Ruth Mandrakamo said she invited other parties to visit the province, like PPP, and do awareness.

Micah, who is also the Kavieng MP, said the maritime provinces of Manus and New Ireland face similar problems, especially in service delivery.

Although there were attempts before to have similar surveys, this is said to be the first-of its-kind using electronic means, in particular, SMS technology.

Division for Public Policy Senior Lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea, Dr. Lawrence Sause, says the survey will need as much publicity as possible. It will be conducted nationwide and this will harness voter preferences in terms of the people’s preferred candidates for the 2017 elections.

“Tomorrow (today) they will go into their regional grouping to come up with a winning strategy for their region, for the next two days,” NA parliamentary leader Patrick Pruaitch said.

Speaking during the party’s major fundraising dinner yesterday in Port Moresby, Pruaitch is confident to win more seats in the national elections next year.

“We will be able to agree and finalise our strategy and our candidates for the 2017 General Elections.