The Pomio Open Electorate in East New Britain has been labeled ‘high risk’ by police.
This is because in the 2012 elections, people in Pomio, especially in the Mamusi Rural LLG, refused to cast votes and threatened polling officials, says provincial police commander, Joseph Tabali.
And the reason for that?
“They said there were no government services in the area,” Tabali told Loop PNG.
“That’s why I am allocating four security personnel to one polling team for Mamusi. Other areas will only have two or three security escorts.”
525 security personnel are involved in the East New Britain polling. This consists of 30 Correctional Services personnel, regular police officers and special constables.
“I have a very big area and my manpower was not enough so I requested for the police commissioner to run a special training for the special constables,” says Tabali.
The training was completed last month while the constables graduated a few weeks ago.
Pomio, Rabaul, Kerevat and Kokopo are the districts of ENB. The 14 days of nationwide polling started on Saturday, June 24, and will end on 8 July.
Voters can access the polling dates and venues on the PNG Electoral Commission website - http://bit.ly/2sAZ0I5