West New Britain Provincial leaders have called for an additional electorate for the Talasea District.
The Governor Francis, Galia Maneke and Regional MP, Sasindran Muthuvel said this should be done during this term of Parliament and the new electorate be called Nakanai Open, while Talasea Open retains its name.
Mr Maneke said a submission would be handed before Parliament during the August session.
Muthuvel also said the Electoral Boundaries Commission should formulate their recommendations on technical issues in line with the guidelines used.
These include population, geographical difficulties in terms of service delivery and density of growth.
“Our people’s interests are not fairly represented, and I remain hopeful that something positive will come out from this meeting,” Mr Muthuvel said.
He said taking into consideration the topography of Kandrian Gloucester District and the high cost of service delivery it also deserves an additional electorate.
Mr Muthuvel said the population figures of 264,264 of 2011 National Census is not relevant for today’s planning but it is the number still being used for government services.
He said population growth has exceeded the service provided and it was unfair on the people and their elected representatives.
There were four submissions made in 1997, but were either rejected or not implemented with more submissions made in 2006, but was not implemented.
“There should be an independent body to look into the recommendations and should not be dictated to by political interests of sitting MPs which deprive people’s rights to services,” Mr Muthuvel said.