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Protests over roll
CANDIDATES in two “hotspot” provinces, Enga
and Southern Highlands, have raised questions about the accuracy of the
common roll which have just been released by the Electoral Commission.
In Enga, 18 candidates contesting the Kompiam-Ambum electorate, staged a
peaceful protest yesterday in Wabag, and handed a petition to Electoral
Commission officials claiming figures for some polling areas appearing
in the final common roll were different from those that were approved by
the provincial election steering committee and sent to Port Moresby for
printing.
They identified 11 polling areas with this discrepancy.
They claimed that for a polling area called Aiametes in the Ambum local
level government (LLG) area, an agrede figure of 797 eligible voter
names were sent to Port Moresby. But the final roll released shows the
number for this polling area inflated to 2,318.
In contrast, the Yamanda polling area in Kompiam LLG initially had an
approved figure of 941 voters, but this was somehow reduced to 383.
The candidates alleged that this was the work of two candidates whom
they named, allegedly working in collaboration with certain election
officials in the province whom they also want replaced.
The petition was received by Enga provincial returning officer Cleopas
Roa, who said he would forward it to Electoral Commissioner Andrew
Trawen to respond to.
In Mendi, a group of 20 candidates contesting the Imbonggu electorate,
claimed that electoral rolls for their electorate and SHP have not been
made public although it is now almost a week before elections.
They claimed that certain candidates were conspiring with election
officials to grossly inflate figures.
They claimed that in the absence of a common roll, two candidates had
printed their own electoral rolls to be used in the electorates, while
illegal ballot papers with identical serial numbers had been printed by
some candidates and their supporters.
Mr Trawen and Electoral Commission media adviser Mark Karambi did not
respond to queries sent to them by phone and e-mail. They also did not
attend a talk-back on Karai Radio last night, where they were expected
to answer questions on some of these issues.
 
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