Five governor seats yet to be declared

National

THE governors of five provinces are yet to be determined as counting for the 2017 general election continues into its fifth week.
The five governors’ seats are among the seven yet to be declared as at 6pm yesterday.
Among them are Chimbu, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands and Madang.
The two open seats are Kandep in Enga and Kundiawa-Gembogl in Chimbu.
Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato has used his powers under the Organic Law on National and local level government elections to continue counting.
He yesterday returned another 19 writs, bringing to 99 the writs now at Government House. He returned 80 last Friday. There are now 12 writs remaining.
Meanwhile, a Supreme Court has left it to the discretion of the electoral commissioner of how to deal with the electorates still counting votes after 2pm yesterday.
The Supreme Court order on Friday extending the date for the return of writs at 2pm yesterday.