Amet loses Madang seat by 10,000 votes

By JAYNE SAFIHAO
JIM Kas was declared governor of Madang yesterday, sparking early morning celebrations after the announcement of a landslide victory.
Kas polled 62,742 votes, achieving an absolute majority after exclusion 25.
Karkar islander Sir Arnold Amet polled 52,945 votes for second place.
Distributed votes from the leading female contender, Mary Kamang, were the decider for Kas’ victory after she was eliminated.
The People’s National Congress candidate polled 35,971 votes.
While residents were awakened by loud blaring and tooting horns yesterday morning as Kas’ victory celebrations began, the Sir Arnold camp was contemplating suing over gross anomalies in the polling.
The camp alleged that ballot boxes from Simbai and Kowon LLG, which are Kas’ base vote areas, were filled with ballot papers that showed the same handwriting in the voting papers.
The ballot papers were all neatly folded in bundles.
The voting papers exceeded the number of people in the electorate, Sir Arnold’s camp claimed.