2017 National Elections

Presiding officer for wards 1 to 5 for Moresby North-East, Tau Hanao, said apart from that, materials had arrived late on location.

Hanao said they are still waiting for word from the Electoral Commission.

Voters who arrived as early as 6am today were told to turn back at the polling venues.

Hanao said for the safety of their officials, they did as they were instructed by acting upon the advice they received from their main office.

"Our officials did our best to explain to the voting public and move as quickly as possible."

Some polling officials are not aware of the decisions made to defer polling.

Team 3 and 4 of Moresby North-East, stationed at Three-Mile, set up at 9:30am.

The officials confirmed polling materials on site but no word yet from the authorities.

A few police personnel were on site.

In the meantime, people who have gathered at polling sites are being advised to wait for official notice.

In the case of box 5, voting commenced at 9am but had to close by 10 upon word of deferral.

Voters have been gathering as early as 6am with three stations set up at the park.

Media personnel, along with observers, officials and police officers, can also be seen milling around the stations.

Voters are also being observed going over the official candidate line-up, given out as part of the polling kits being distributed to the teams.

Unfortunately, the Electoral Commission just announced that polling for NCD has been deferred to June 30.

The Electoral Commission confirmed this morning after confusion hit the nation’s capital at the start of its one-day polling.

All electorates in NCD will go to the polls on Friday after electoral officials raised concerns over their allowance not being paid last night.

There is also confusion over the electoral roll as most eligible voters’ names are not on the roll. Even some candidates’ names are not on the roll.

Provincial Election Manager Tom Sine told Loop PNG this morning that everything has been prepared and polling teams are ready to conduct the polls.

He said despite the deferral on Monday, people are looking forward to casting their votes today.

The one-day polling, scheduled for yesterday for the three highlands provinces, did not eventuate in some districts due to grievances raised by candidates and supporters regarding the Electoral Roll and other issues.

More to come...

Villagers started gathering at the empty venue site at Elevala amidst rumours of boycott by polling officials.

The area covers an estimate of the 12,000 voters, but no official announcement has been made yet from appropriate authorities.

Given the one-day polling period, frustration is building up.

Villager Doruga Henry said this will not be a fair election if they are given very limited time to vote.

"If they are starting very late, then it is not fair to even have polling today at all.”

Returning officer for Kerema, Ronnie Havenggau, says the final stage of the preparation has been well organised.

Havenggau confirms that 127 candidates will be contesting for the regional as well as the two provincial seats.

He says 62 election officials will be covering the 152 wards in the 10 LLGs.

He adds that there are 243 polling venues in the two districts of Kerema and Kikori.

"We are using the 10 days designated to us to better coordinate the officials so as to cut down on unnecessary cost in the conduct of this important election process."

Apparently, all materials and logistics for the five wards have not been sorted out yet. This includes distribution of ballot papers and boxes, polling officials’ allowances and fuel voucher for the hire buses.

The hundred-plus teams in the electorate have signed a petition, which they aim to bring to the electoral commission.

But NCD election manager, Terence Hetinu, says this is information is not true.

“The materials are here. They have been misled. If they go through with the boycott, this is not good for the electorate,” he said.

Metropolitan superintendent Ben Turi says police presence will be beefed up, especially near the largest settlements in the city like Morata, Wildlife area, Eight-Mile and Nine-Mile. Roadblocks should also be expected at every entry point of the three electorates.

“The three zone commanders will make sure that there is no overcrowding at the polling booths. You only stand in a queue to vote,” says Turi.

He said in areas where the bulk of voters do not find their names on the Electoral Roll, the preliminary roll can be used by election officials.

“What I’ve decided is that they can go back and use the preliminary roll,” says the commissioner.

Commissioner Gamato explained that the preliminary roll is the first or draft roll that they did when the enrolment forms came in and data was entered. After the objection, the outcome is the final roll.