Member for Rabaul Dr Allan Marat has raised concerns about the reliability of the common roll, as there is no up to date data on the national population.
He addressed his questions to Prime Minister James Marape in yesterday’s parliament sitting.
Dr Marat added that without reliable data from a national census, there is reasonable fear of an explosion in the number of eligible voters, which will affect the general outcome of the national elections.
The Prime Minister responded explaining why the 2020 national census did not take place.
“Mr Deputy Speaker, he is correct to point that what was required by law for us to conduct our census in 2020, was not held. There are a couple reasons why 2020 census was not possible; he would be very familiar with both COVID-19 and much of 2020 taken in politics and the power play in politics.
“Whilst the latest population update may have not taken place, Mr Deputy Speaker through you let me point one important fact. Population growth rate of our country is known, projected growth rate on average on minimum of 3%, 3.1%, 3.2%, 3.3% on average,” said Marape.
The Prime Minister added that the (PNG) Electoral Commission is working towards putting up an approximate figure of the population statistics as well as eligible voters. This is will be done by eliminating and updating retrospective data from the population data of 2011 and the common roll from 2012 and 2017 elections.
“There should not be abnormal explosion in population in all our electorates right around the country, unless there was a drastic evident based shift from one area to another,” he said.