PNG Electoral Commission

Governor-General Bob Dadae will pre-sign the 111 Writs tomorrow morning at Government House, Konedobu.      

According to PNG Electoral Commission, at 9am, the GG will pre-sign 88 open seats' instruments/writs.

And continue with the 22 provincial seats' instruments. 

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato will address the media after the completion of the issuing ceremony by the GG.

When the Writs are Issued by the GG, the nomination period of seven days will start for intending candidates.

The nomination period will close at 4pm on April 27.

PNGEC Media Officer Alphonse Muapi made this clarification after posts on social media questioning why ballot papers for the 2017 National Election had been printed without candidates not yet confirmed.

The nomination for intending candidates for the 111 seats in Parliament will open after the Issue of Writs by the Governor-General in nine days’ time.      

“Candidate posters are generated and produced separately, and contain candidate photos, their names and code numbers  are allocated after the order of draw at the close of nominations,” Muapi told Loop PNG.

The Issue of Writs will be on April 20, followed by candidates’ nomination, campaign and election period in June.  

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato revealed that a total of 4068 intending candidates had filled and submitted the candidate bio-data form (Form 29).

According to statistics released by the PNG Electoral Commission, the Highlands Region registered the highest number of intending candidates with a progressive total of 1719.

Followed by Momase with 1017, Southern with 998 and New Guinea Islands with only 334.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato said the music clip will complement the 14 new graphic products which include posters, flyers and booklets that will be distributed to all 22 provinces in the few days.

The theme for awareness campaign officially launch on Wednesday in Port Moresby was ‘Your Choice, Protect Our Democracy’.

“The new strategy uses the faces of our citizens to promote voter participation, which include women and girls and other marginalised groups, emphasise anti-corruption and good governance efforts,” Gamato said.

The theme of the event is “Be informed to make good choices during election”.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato will officially launch the awareness campaign with Chief Secretary to Government Isaac Lupari.

Lupari is also the chairman of the Inter-Departmental Election Committee (IDEC).

PNGEC advised that much of the awareness songs, video and posters will be concentrated in creating awareness in the Highlands Region because of the voting culture in the country’s populous region.

In a statement, Sir Mekere said the reinstatement of the inactive body will be a step towards a fully transparent National Elections this year.

“I urge the Chief Electoral Commissioner to activate the EAC and have regular meetings with it in the critical period leading up to the election. I am sure they can also help him to discharge his duties independently and effectively.”

The EAC is provided for under Section 69 of the Organic Law on National and Local Level Government elections of the Constitution

An audit has been done on all service providers that have claims with PNG Electoral Commission and has been completed.

Of the K42 million claimed, the audit now has confirmed a figure of K19 million for service providers.

Chief Secretary, Issac Lupari says because of the audit that has been conducted upon those claims, PNGEC was able to pick up on the discrepancies and abnormalities in the figures.

Lupari thanked that Department of Justice, particularly the Office of the Solicitors General for the work they have done in rechecking the figures.

PNGEC Chief Commissioner, Patilias Gamato said during the launch of the Plan today that PNGEC has already started implementing the logistics plan.

“This is a working plan therefore issues like procurement of ballot papers, big ticket items, polling schedules are all contained in the plan and the plan cannot be read in isolation from the polling schedule,” says Gamato.

He says the polling schedule is another plan in terms of the actual date and the place of polling which also includes the security plans that will soon be launched by our disciplinary forces.

 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.

“As Papua New Guinea prepares for the National General Elections in April 2017, the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission has submitted proposals for amendment when Parliament next sits on January 24^th,” explains Political Science lecturer Patrick Kaiku.