THE Hela region candidates and their supporters have agreed to release to Mendi 253 ballot boxes being held in Tari on three conditions.
They wanted deputy electoral commissioner Morea Veri to agree on three demands which they said should be covered by a memorandum of agreement.
Their demands are:
*That the ballot boxes be flown to Mendi on the Defence Force Arava aircraft;
*That the soldiers deployed for security jobs in the Highlands should be the ones to escort the boxes;
*That the same group of soldiers provides security to the boxes during the counting in Mendi.
Earlier, Mr Veri along with assistant commissioner Police Raphael Huafolo and Southern Highlands operations Defence Force contingent commander Lt Col Siale Diro were flown to Tari on the Arava to appeal to the people for the release of the ballot boxes.
Mr Veri also told them that there was already a court order for all ballot boxes to be moved to Mendi for counting.
Speaking on behalf of the people, former Southern Highlands governor Anderson Agiru said this problem would have not come about if only Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen had refrained from saying that the polling and counting will be in Tari.
However, before they could take the boxes, the Electoral Commission must pay the allowances of polling officials in Hela, Mr Agiru said.
More than 270 disgruntled polling officials in Hela had threatened to block the release of the ballot boxes unless their allowances were paid.
They told their grievances to Mr Veri yesterday in Tari, who assured them their allowances would be paid by their provincial electoral manager.
 

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