2017 National Elections

Student voters have demanded the Presiding Officer to bring in the Returning Officer to explain to them why most of their names are not on the Electoral Roll.

Students say there about 5000 to 6000 registered student voters at the University of Papua New Guinea but only 1326 names are on the Electoral Roll.

From the 1326 names, about 200 are names of former students.

East Sepik student leader, Smith Wani, says some of the names on the updated electoral roll are names of students that voted in 2012 but have already left the school.

That is the confirmation from East Sepik Provincial Election Manager Kila Ralai.

Ralai said out of the 17 designated polling areas, only 9 have already polled.

He added that polling for Wewak Urban will be completed today. 

The provincial election manager said cancellation of polling on Wednesday, and shortage of ballot papers, are the cause of delay in completion of polling on Thursday. 

Ralai gave an example of polling at team 102 at Yawasoro.

Polling will be held today because of shortage of ballot papers.

(File pic)

And for others who prefer otherwise, it's playing a game of tag with the police.

Joe Koro, a local resident of Manu, decided to visit the Koki Fish market before heading to Kaugere to vote.

He arrived at the seaside to an empty market where he had a run-in with police. But not before buying a string of fish at a doubled price.

"I came here to buy fish but the market was closed. Luckily, villagers from Roku arrived here with some catch,” he tells Loop PNG.

Election Manager Steven Koupa told Loop PNG this morning that remote areas of Wobura and Luda are yet to cast their votes.

He said since yesterday, they had been waiting for the chopper to airlift ballot boxes.

He added that the delay will affect the schedule for counting.

Koupa also raised concerns that this is a priority area therefore the helicopter firm should make it their priority to airlift the ballot boxes.

Meanwhile, all districts have completed their polling and ballot boxes have been extracted to the police station in Goroka for counting.

Many expressed anger at the polling venues at Sabama and Downtown Port Moresby after being turned away by officials.

They told Loop PNG that the final updated electoral roll does not contain their names.

Earlier this week, Electoral Commissioner, Patilias Gamato, announced that the 2012 and the 2017 preliminary roll will be used with the final 2017 roll after many people were turned away in several polling venues around the country.

The busy shop front at TST Waigani was deserted as eligible voters, in an orderly manner, turned up at the Waigani Police Station to cast their votes early this morning.

Polling booths opened just before 10am.

All shops around the area, including the main Waigani market, were closed this morning. Not even a single Asian shop remained open.

And unlike the Burns Peak polling area at Hohola, the three booths at Waigani were well organised as voters quietly and patiently stood in line to cast their votes.

By 6am today, polling teams camping at Kila Kila Secondary School headed out to their respective venues.

Loop PNG visited polling venues at Sabama and Downtown Port Moresby, noting a good turnout in both areas.

At Sabama, showers threatened to stop polling as there weren't proper tents to house polling booths as well as officials and security.

In downtown, polling began smoothly.

Incumbent Moresby South MP Justin Tkatchenko also cast his vote at the polling venue at the Port Moresby Police Station.

More updates to come....

Hundreds have gathered at the two polling stations at Mini Market, Six-Mile, to cast their votes.

Team 30 has 724 ballot papers with an extra 26, bringing the total to 750. Team 31 has a total of 450 ballot papers.

People on site outnumber these figures but they are willing to go ahead.

They have also raised concern that there is a mix up in the names; their names are found in a different electorate and names of voters from other electorates appear in their area.

The Burns Peak ward 7 polling site saw residents turn up as early as 6am to cast their votes.

At 9am, officials for the three polling booths were still setting up as anxious voters waited for them to get ready.

Scrutineers started complaining an hour after the start time, demanding for the polling officials to allow extra time after 6pm to make up for lost time.

Electoral officials explained that the delay was due to logistics in bringing in tables for the polling booths.

According to the Electoral Commission, 73 percent (65 electorates) of all electorates have commenced polling as scheduled while 19 percent (17 electorates) are gazetted to start later in the polling period.

“3 percent of electorates were rescheduled to a later date and 4 percent (4 electorates) of electorates have not yet commenced polling in accordance with the gazette.”

Meanwhile, the National Capital District and Southern Highlands will start their one-day polling today.