Count votes in Lae: Wenge

THE counting of ballot papers for the Morobe regional seat should be done in Lae and not in the districts, says United Party candidate Luther Wenge.
Wenge said this would ensure there was a central coordination in the counting process and greater transparency involved in the process.
Wenge, a former three-term governor of the province, said the previous procedure where regional seat votes were counted in provinces and brought to Lae
for quality checks should be done away with.
“There are two ballot boxes where people go and cast their votes in polling places,” Wenge said.
“One (of the boxes) for the open seat and the other is for the regional seat.
“The regional seat ballot boxes should be taken to Lae for counting straight after voting.
“I am raising this concern because in the last election my second and third votes did not come to me but to someone else.
“In areas where I was supposed to collect second and
third votes I did not collect anything.
“I want them (counting officials) to skip the quality check part of the counting because it makes way for people to come in bribe the counting officials.
“Also, they should not suspend counting unnecessarily but continue to count until they complete all the boxes.”
Wenge said that in the last election, scrutineers of candidates had to stand about 11 metres away from the counting venues.
“The distance supposed to be about two metres and not 11 metres,” he said.
“This is so that scrutineers can clearly see what is happening in the counting area, resulting in greater transparency.”