2017 National Elections

Electoral Commissioner, Patilias Gamato, says teams 92 to 100, in Selau Suir, are holding onto the boxes until payment is made.

Gamato said the commission is currently working to address the issue so that the boxes are returned.

Polling in ARoB is scheduled to conclude by Wednesday.

In other parts of the New Guinea Islands, counting for East New Britain is scheduled for Friday once all ballot boxes are brought into Kokopo.

Polling in Manus has been completed while West New Britain is expected to be completed as of yesterday.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato announced this during an update on polling in the province.

He said there were a few hiccups such as the fight at South Wosera between drunkards and supporters of a candidate, which resulted in the damaging of a ballot box and the theft of a ballot box in Angoram, which was later returned.

As of yesterday, polling has been completed in some areas of the province while other are yet to be completed.

They include:

Wewak Open – 20 teams out of 29 have completed polling

Two Returning Officers (RO) of districts on opposite ends in terms of geography similarities, highlighted communication difficulties faced by their officials this elections period.

RO for Nuku, a mountainous district in Sandaun Province, Francis Yawalan says with no mobile network coverage in some areas it is very hard to know polling progress or even if polling is completed.

Yawalan explains that this can also affect the arrangement to transport the polling officials in and out of the polling area.

Yesterday, polling at the station was suspended when only 197 ballot papers were distributed to the station, which caters to over a thousand eligible voters in the area.

Additional 750 papers were issued after residents confronted the officials at Rita Flynn and proceeded to the Electoral Commission.

Polling for the station was extended to today, Saturday, July 1.

Team 177 commenced polling at around 11 o’clock with a total of 947 papers, as confirmed by Presiding Officer Martin Kamas.

This comes after the Electoral Commission allowed for polling to be conducted today.

Polling didn't start until 1:30pm after ballot papers were brought under security escort to the campus.

Students were allowed to cast their votes using their ID cards as well as names according to the electoral roll.

At the time this report was filed, two hours remain before polling closes at 6pm.

The queues were also a source of frustration for the voters, as both male and female students stood in the same line.

Kila Kila Secondary School, Sir John Guise Stadium and Rita Flynn Courts will be the venues.

The PNG Electoral Commission released the counting venues today.

All ballot boxes for the Moresby South Electorate will be counted at the secondary school.

Counting for Moresby North-East will be at the Sir John Guise stadium while the Rita Flynn Courts will be used for the NCD Regional Seat counting as well as Moresby North-West.

An officer told Loop PNG that some ballot papers had to be nullified because they were dropped in the wrong box.

“Regional ballot papers were dropped in the ‘Open’ box, and vice versa,” Loop PNG was told.

“Mothers, fathers, the old and young made the same mistake.”

He hopes effective awareness is carried out in future to avoid such issues.

The regional/provincial paper is for those running for the governor post, while the open paper is to vote a representative for your district.

Returning Officer Michael Ariando told Loop PNG that time is against them and will see how it goes in the afternoon.

However, security personnel manning the ballot boxes at Ialibu station will not allow polling to proceed for safety reasons.

Ariando said quality checks of the ballot papers took up their time.

As of 2pm today, the polling officials are still doing checks on the ballot papers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is still at his village, Kauwo Walea, to cast his vote.

More update on TVWAN News tonight.

Ward 9 Presiding Officer, Everlyn Nawara, said many frustrated voters were turned away, including some senior public servants. 

Loop PNG caught up with the Ward 9 polling team at Kreer Heights on Friday, the last day of polling for the ward.

Nawara said for the 2017 National Elections, 559 eligible voters were on the roll. 

Many residents of Kreer Heights said the total voter number on the roll is half the number of eligible voters.

The incident happened sometime around 11.30pm.

However, NCD metropolitan superintendent, Commander Ben Turi, says there is no need for distress.

“We were firing to disperse the crowd,” he tells Loop PNG.

“People were gathering around the area; it was overcrowded. We had to chase everyone away.”

This happened after NCD’s one-day polling. As electoral officials and security personnel packed up and transported the materials to the complex, vehicles loaded with people also followed suit.

Police had no choice but to resort to that tactic.