Lelang urges government to tighten election process

Islands

KANDRIAN-Gloucester MP Joseph Lelang, pictured, says the government needs to look at the whole electoral process and tighten it.
In a media conference last week in Port Moresby, Lelang said the problem of the electoral roll and processes was raised in the last term of Parliament by then Opposition leader Belden Namah but was not fixed. “Nobody bothered to fix this problem because those in power at that time and who are now in power are keeping it that way because they want to continue to benefit from that system,” Lelang said.  “I think this is a very sad situation we as a country are facing, after 40 years of independence.”
Lelang said the people’s constitutional rights were being denied.
“The sad fact is that we are denying our people their constitutional right to determine who their leaders will be,” he said.
He said the government needed to tighten up the electoral laws and the process so that people would enjoy free and fair elections.
“What we need to do is tighten the electoral laws and go back and review the electoral process and update the Common Roll,” Lelang said.
“A lot of our people were denied their right in this election because their names were not on the Common Roll.”
Lelang said in his short time in politics, he has witnessed that this has been the worst election compared to others because of deliberate hijacking of ballot boxes and papers, and other fraudulent activities.