Voters’ list troubles in SHP feared

By ANDREW ALPHONSE
A SENIOR election official in Highlands region has admitted to discrepancies in the new common roll for Southern Highlands, angering some candidates in the provin-ce.
It was feared that the names of some 12,000 voters in Tari Pori electorate had not been entered in the common roll that was released this week.
With only three days to go before polling, several candidates travelled to Mendi to express their frustrations.
James Marabe, candidate for Tari Pori, said yesterday the candidates held a meeting last Monday in Tari and drafted a petition to the Electoral Commission stressing the discrepancies in the roll.
Mr Marabe said 15 candidates and the returning and assistant returning officers had signed the petition calling for the preliminary roll to be used and instead of the just-released final roll.
He alleged that the discrepancies in the roll had been done in Port Moresby.
As an example, the Paipali ward in Tari which registered more than 1,000 voters now only had names of just 285 voters, Mr Marabe said.
He said the actual voting population in Tari Pori was 62,000 but this had been reduced to only 40,000, prompting fears that many voters would miss out.
Mr Marabe said the candidates planned to boycott the elections if the discrepancy was not rectified immediately.
Provincial elections manager David Wakias confirmed there were discrepancies in the roll, adding that the commission’s office in Port Moresby failed to enter names of voters from the preliminary roll update.
Mr Wakias said he had raised the matter with the Port Moresby head office and was waiting for a reply.

 

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