ESP Polling Runs Smoothly

Insertion of polling teams into the remotest parts of East Sepik was an additional logistical woe on the Provincial Returning Officer and the Logistics team as the polling dates progressed.

Since the commencement date of polling on Tuesday 05th, there had been a lot of delays and waiting for many reasons, one being the late delivery of fuel for all modes of transportation, bad weather, and unavailability of a chopper to transport polling teams to remote East Sepik.

These were some of the concerns raised by both the Election Manager and the Provincial Returning Officer on behalf of presiding officers and polling teams.

East Sepik covers rivers, swamps, mountain ranges, and islands, and coordinating such an operation in a short span of time is indeed a nightmare. 

When this staff reporter talked to both the PRO and the Election Manager they had concerns about these delays including the non-availability of a chopper to insert polling teams.

However at the logistics centre for the Wewak Open Electorate, this staff reporter was informed that a chopper had been engaged, and by then 6 polling teams had been inserted into polling areas by the choppers.

These were locations in Ambunti-Drekiker and parts of Wewak Open electorate.

While there, the first lot of ballot boxes came in from Dagua LLG of the Wewak Open electorate. Polling had been completed there. Provincial Returning Officer Thaddeus Ulapapik, received the boxes and ensured proper procedures were followed in receiving and storing the boxes.

On this occasion, the sealed boxes were again confirmed by the scrutineers but were not locked up upon unanimous agreement because there were other scrutineers from the previous day who were yet to arrive to confirm the serial codes on the labels to the container lock.

Despite the dampened spirit of the national general elections, election officers on the ground in Wewak are trying their best to follow procedures and to keep all parties satisfied. 

Author: 
Frieda Kana