Prime Minister James Marape said the Government will provide full funding support to the PNG Electoral Commission (PNGEC) to hold the 2022 General Election.
He also announced that the Government is committed to ‘free and fair’ elections.
Prime Minister Marape said on Thursday, October 14 after a briefing by Electoral Commissioner, Simon Sinai to MPs on preparations for the elections.
During the briefing the Electoral Commissioner told the Prime Minister and MPs that PNGEC would require K400 million to hold the 2022 elections, compared to K399 million in 2017 and K235 million in 2012.
In the 2017 elections, K278 million was used by the PNGEC on election costs, while the balance of K121 million was spent on security.
Mr Sinai recommended that funding would be released to support the PNGEC conduct its Electoral Roll Programme and strategies for polling and counting. Stating that the resources must be made available in the first quarter of 2022.
Prime Minister Marape said the Government would provide the K400 million needed by the PNGEC to hold the elections.
“The Electoral Commission needs K400 million to hold the 2022 elections and we will allocate that in the 2022 Budget. We will give the Electoral Commission our full support,” he said.
Prime Minister Marape said outside organisations would be included in the Election Planning Committee to ensure free and fair elections.
Meantime, the Government also appealed to people around the country to register their names for voting.
“We will include outside organisations such as Transparency International, National Research Institute, Institute of National Affairs and churches in the Election Planning Committee to ensure free and fair elections.
“I also ask our people to enroll in the census and common roll updates which will be carried out before the elections."