Polling officials

Returning officer, Kusak Meluk, said they had hoped to start counting today but had to wait for Nawaeb Urban to remove their ballot boxes from the Sir Ignatius Kilage complex.

“We were trying to cut the container but we couldn’t because of the scrutineers,” he stated.

“We were afraid that if we had opened the container, the scrutineers would get suspicious and question us. It’s very sensitive at the moment.

Commissioner Patilias Gamato said the human resource team has processed payments for 65 of the 89 districts so far and has established an agreement with Bank South Pacific to give priority to these payments.

He said in a statement that as districts complete their counts and verify their counting officials, these payments are also being made.

“The BSP bank checks each batch of payments as they are received to check that bank account details are correct and that accounts are active.

According to the Election Manager, the training for polling officials and the presiding officers was scheduled to be conducted a week ago.

Jiwaka Election Manager Rossie Pandihau is pleading for the Provincial Treasurer to return to Jiwaka as soon as possible to release the funds allocated for the training. 

She says the training is vital for the 900-plus polling officials, including the 300-plus presiding officers and assistant presiding officers, so they understand the process well before being deployed to polling sites.

Ahi LLG polling team officers for the last election, Morris Aaron and Stephanie Amos, said they were sidelined from their duties without any explanation.

Supporting them were Ahi leaders Moses Aisen, Busi Kahata, Philip Pavey, Willie Amos and Bart Nako, who claim that changes were recently made by the Returning Officer for the Lae Open Electorate.

The leaders have raised serious concerns about his integrity and the manner in which last minute changes to key polling officers have been made.