2017 PNG National Elections

Joint Operations commander, Colonel Ezekia Wenzel says that the report will be to identify challenges and come up steps to rectify them ahead of future joint operations.

Wenzel says that there are still some troops present in Hela and Enga following the major withdrawal of the main contingent who were out on operations.

He says that there are between 120 to 130 troops making up the skeletal force on ground and maintaining a presence to assist with security tasks.

Commissioner Gamato today returned 80 of the 111 writs that were issued on April 24.

At the time the writs were returned, 88 seats have been declared but only 80 of those writs were presented to the Electoral Commission.

He hopes to have the remaining writs returned by Monday afternoon.

“In all fairness and for public interest, I have instructed that counting for the remaining 25 electorates continue till they finish the process,” he said.

He was declared at 12pm this afternoon, after the 35th exclusion which saw lone female candidate Kessy Sawang distribute her 6671 votes to the two remaining candidates, Peter Sapia and Edwin Baffe.

At final elimination Sapia polled 10 878 exceeding the absolute majority of 9104 votes.

Runner up Edwin Baffe polled 7 328 votes.

(File picture)

Parkop reached the absolute majority of 54 864 by just 6 votes polling a total of 54 870 votes after exclusion 35.

Andy Bawa polled 28 025 and Michael Kandiu collected 26 873.

Parkop will be officially declared by NCD Election manager Alwyn Jimmy at Rita Flynn.

His supporters are packed outside the Rita Flynn venue to celebrate his victory.

More to come.

With three candidates left in the race, results for the 35th exclusion are yet to be put up.

Meantime, 4442 votes from excluded candidate Robert Agen were distributed among the 3 remaining candidates.

After exclusion 34, incumbent Governor and People’s Democratic Party leader Powes Parkop is leading on 52 331 votes with an absolute majority of 58 162

The final three results show:

According to inside sources from the Kokopo camp, they are awaiting on the announcement from Pangu Pati leader Sam Basil.

However, Basil told Loop PNG that such talks are for leaders to discuss and he did not want to discuss further on the rumors.

The Kokopo camp currently has 15 MPs in camp but will be increasing as more MPs elect are anticipated to be joining them today.

Out of the 15, ten MPs are from the National Alliance Party while the other five are from coalition partners and independent MPs.

More updates to come.

He said that a big group and some party leaders will be arriving in Alotau today.

Abel added that declarations are still continuing and PNC might be collecting another three MPs.

"We are getting calls every day from various MPs to bring them to Alotau so our numbers might swell in the next couple of days.

"So it's really looking positive but it's just the beginning and things might change," he said.

So far 24 PNC candidates have been declared.

Of the 24 declared, 15 PNC candidates along with 8 other supporting candidates are now in Alotau.

Independent candidate Dr Lino Tom unseated PNCs Robert Sandan Ganim after he collected a total of 22, 463 votes to oust the sitting MP who collected 17,551 votes after the final elimination.

Dr Tom who comes from the Lanekep tribe which own a major portion of the land on which Wabag town is located was the youngest candidate among a total of 28 that contested the seat.

When thanking the people Dr Lino made special mention to everyone that contributed towards his win including counting officials, security personnel, supporters and the general public.

As of 6:30pm, only 11 candidates were still in the race for the NCD Regional seat.

The progressive tally as of the 26^th elimination shows:

Moresby North-East - after elimination 35