Ballot boxes from the Bougainvilleans outside Bougainville polling places have returned safely to Bougainville.
Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, George Manu, said all materials will now need to be reconciled before counting commences.
When giving an update on the 2020 Bougainville General Election, Manu said 33 boxes were flown into Buka on a chartered flight on Saturday afternoon following the completion of polling, which started on August 12th and ended on the 19th.
These boxes were accompanied by the six presiding officers of East New Britain, West New Britain, Morobe, Madang, Eastern Highlands and NCD.
“Upon arrival at the Buka Airport, the ballot boxes were transported under police escort to the Buka police station where they are now being securely stored together with other ballot boxes from all constituencies in the North Bougainville region,” stated Manu.
The Bougainville Electoral Commissioner and the Chief of Bougainville Police Service, Deputy Police Commissioner Francis Tokura, have further called on Bougainvilleans to refrain from spreading false information on the conduct of the general election.
One of the recently raised concerns involves the possible tampering of ballot boxes locked inside 20-foot containers at the Buka, Arawa and Buin police stations. This concern was due to the completion of polling a week before September 2nd, which is the gazetted date for the commencement of counting.
However, Manu and Tokura gave the assurance that tampering would be impossible as the ballot boxes are being safely guarded by police personnel.
Furthermore, scrutineers have records of the serial numbers of the seals for each ballot box. Before opening the ballot boxes at the counting centres, the seal numbers will be read out for scrutineers to verify them with the list of numbers they have. If the numbers do not correspond, the ballot boxes will not be opened.