HUNDREDS of people prevented Electoral Commission staff and police from removing 85 ballot boxes used in the Imbonggu election from the Mendi police station lock-up on Wednesday.
The team was acting on a Sept 26 court order to take the boxes, which had been locked up at the station, to Mt Hagen.
Acting provincial police commander Insp Benson Osil intervened and managed to calm down the crowd.
In the ruckus, a truck driver was assaulted.
The team, which included a few mobile squad members, returned to Mt Hagen empty-handed.
The National Court in Waigani had on Sept 26 allowed an application by petitioner Pila Niningi for the ballot boxes to be locked away at Mendi pending the outcome of his action.
The boxes were later to be taken to the Mt Hagen police station.
Insp Osil said the people got suspicious when the Mt Hagen police team turned up at the Mendi station.
The crowd quickly swelled to a few hundred, preventing the police from loading the truck with the ballot boxes.
They refused to listen when one of the officers showed them the court order.
Insp Osil said that the situation was tense and could have turned nasty.
He said that Mr Niningi’s counsel should have accompanied the police team to explain to the people what was happening.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Niningi said he was disappointed that the police had failed to handle the situation and to transfer the ballot boxes to Mt Hagen as ordered.