Polling

Polling was scheduled to take place today however, due to issues with the electoral roll, it has been postponed.

Provincial election manager, Anton Iamau, said sorting and pre-counting of ballot papers took place in Wabag Town due to electoral roll issues.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato confirmed that Western Highlands Province (WHP) also has the same issue with the electoral roll and will commence polling on Thursday.

Polling officials spent the day also sorting and pre-counting.

Provincial election manager Anton Iamau confirmed that polling officials are now doing pre-counting of ballot papers in Wabag Town.

Iamau said earlier that all 1,156 ballot boxes arrived in the province last week.

He said there are enough security personnel of both police and defence force on ground to provide security during polling. 

Enga consists of five electorates, 411 polling teams, 364 Wards and 18 LLGs.

After the pre-counting is done, the ballot boxes will be distributed to the five electorates.

This comes after the Electoral Commission allowed for polling to be conducted today.

Polling didn't start until 1:30pm after ballot papers were brought under security escort to the campus.

Students were allowed to cast their votes using their ID cards as well as names according to the electoral roll.

At the time this report was filed, two hours remain before polling closes at 6pm.

The queues were also a source of frustration for the voters, as both male and female students stood in the same line.

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)

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.

Chuave Returning Officer, Peter Are, confirmed this with Loop PNG.

He said they are now awaiting the extraction of ballot papers to Kundiawa.

Are said polling was conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner.

He said even though they started a day late, they have finished on time.

He added that the Simbu Provincial Election Steering Committee had come up with strict security measures and nothing will be illegally conducted in regards to ballot papers.

A spokesman said they were ready for Eastern Highlands, Simbu and Hela when polling was scheduled for June 26.

Delay on ground due to candidate grievances and other factors saw polling in some of these areas deferred, therefore the helicopter company left, with clearance from Electoral officials, to attend to other electoral jobs that needed their assistance.

This morning they have sent two helicopters to Eastern Highlands Province and one to Simbu Province to assist in insertion and extractions of polling teams for the remote areas.

Wewak Urban LLG, which was supposed to hold its final day of the two-day polling, got cancelled. The same went for Wewak Rural, Wewak Island, Turubu and Boikin-Dagua.

Wewak Returning Officer, Thaddeus Ulapapik, confirmed to this newsroom that weather was to blame for suspension of polling today.

He said polling will resume depending on the weather.

Ulapapik is confident polling will be completed within the gazetted 14 days.

Meanwhile, the RO appealed to candidates to educate their scrutineers so they do not delay the flow of polling.