Central Province

Returning officer Theodore Maia said every LLG is waiting for the extraction of ballot papers. 

“Yesterday we brought in Tapini’s 28 boxes. There is still two more to come down. For Guari they are still in the Guari area. Their boxes will have to be flown to Tapini station and then to Port Moresby. That is 20 boxes. For Woitape, that’s 32 boxes that need to be airlifted from the polling areas to Woitape station and down to Port Moresby,” Maia said.

Central Province Election Manager, Peter Malaifeope said counting venue will be at Bomana Training College and Murray Barracks for security reasons.

“I think what has been happening here has also been happening in other parts of the district and also the country. As we speak Porebada polling has been stopped for whatever reason but the scrutineers there and also here have been disgruntled. They’re not very pleased that the voter listing does not reflect names of everybody who live in the community. So a lot of people are finding themselves excluded or prevented from exercising their constitutional right to vote,” he said.

Having 3600 eligible voters, not all were able to cast their votes because their names were not listed.

Local woman Maimu Tau, said she sees potential in Hiri-Koiari candidate Kieth Iduhu. Other eligible voters also do, but they cannot vote. 

"The issue here in Gaire is the update of (the) common roll book. Many supporters for Keith Iduhu want to cast their vote however their names are not on the list,” Tau said.

According to Election Manager for Central Province, Peter Malaifeope, all common roll books were related for Central Province.

A polling booth was set up in the centre of the village for transparency. However, some eligible voters could not find their names on the common roll to cast their votes.

The wife of a Revival Church Pastor, Orefa Roger, shared that she was able to vote, but her daughter and aunt could not. 

"I think the issue regarding polling here is the update of the common roll. I voted for the leader I want, but my daughter and aunt's names are not on the list so (they were) sent back,” said Roger.

After completing a three-day election preparation workshop in Port Moresby this week, Mr. Malaifeope has given assurance that his team is set for July 4.

“We had a three-day election preparation workshop basically to get ourselves in order to check if we have everything on hand and ready for the polling in a week's time."

He said there are 174 polling teams geared up to run the polling throughout the province. Mr. Malaifeope plans to run the polling for five days and complete the process by the 9th or 10th of July.

Team Central consists of Returning Officers and Assistant Returning officers from Hiri/Koiari, Kairuku, Goilala, Rigo and Abau district who attended a two-day training.

Election Manager for Central Province, Peter Malaifeope said the aim of the training is to upskill the team on the voting system.

Provincial Awareness & Training Officer, Lister Gabi will be training the officers in theory and practical to assist. He stated that most of the RO’s and ARO’s are aware of the system and have conducted the past two elections, however needed a refresher.  

Fifteen women are contesting seats in Central Province.

Election Manager Peter Malaifeope shared that this is more female candidates in this election, compared to previous elections.

Forty two candidates are contesting Rigo Open, three of whom are women. Kairuku Open with 34 candidates with the inclusion of seven female candidates. Hiri/Koiari has 35 candidates, one being female. Goilala Open has 38 candidates with the inclusion of one female candidate. Abau Open has 25 candidates, all men, and Central Provincial Seat registered 22 candidates, 3 are women.

Villagers in Waro, Iruone, Kelekapana and Vuru have started responding to the issue, by building seawalls. They began recognising a great change to the sea levels in 2018.

The villagers said, the sea level rise has eaten away the coastline at least 10 metres in. Homes situated in close proximity to the sea, are concerned about the impacts on their livelihoods.

According to the Green Climate Fund 2019, over the last 100 years the global climate has warmed by approximately 0.74°C and is expected to rise a further 1.3 to 1.8°C by the end of the century.

Motu-Koita Assembly Chairman and Deputy Governor for NCD, Dadi Toka Jnr. announced the dates for the Hiri Moale Festival, and the crowning of the 2021 Hiri Hanenamo.

The Chairman said, “We pushed the date. I know there’s been a lot of questions about the date purely because there was a COVID surge in December, hence we needed to comply with the measures so we chose safety over anything else and we moved the date to what it is.”