Acting Commissioner for the PNG Electoral Commission, Simon Sinai, in a recent press conference said the PNG Electoral Commission is expecting K50 million in funds to be made available this week.
Sinai said, “We are expecting the government to give us the K50 million that we have budgeted.”
He said the K50 million will fund the PNGEC’s operations plan.
PNGEC is working in collaboration with relevant agencies such as the Prime Minister’s Department, Ministry of Planning, and Treasury.
The Acting Commissioner said while awaiting the funds to be available, PNGEC has been conducting a voter roll verification exercise in the Motu-Koitabu ward areas.
He said fourteen teams have been stationed in Moresby Northwest and Moresby South.
Sinai also announced a split concept method, termed the Urban Area and Rural Area Concept for the update of the electoral roll leading up to the national general elections next year.
He said in order to utilize the biometric machines the Commission on-hand, PNGEC made a decision to introduce the ‘urban area and rural area’ concept.
Sinai said, “We decided that we should have an urban area and rural area concept. The urban areas will go into the photo-roll (registered), and the rural area go into the normal enrolment system.”
Mr Sinai said the concept was introduced due to time limitation in preparation for the national general elections, in addition to the limited quantity of equipment and biometric machines to conduct voter roll verifications and registrations in order to develop and maintain the photo roll for all eligible voters.
The Acting Electoral Commissioner explained the split concept is needed to minimize the many issues being presented to them in the roll update and verification exercise.
Acting Commissioner Sinai said the PNGEC is working overtime to ensure the successful delivery of the national general elections next year with the meager funds they have available.