Candidate says names not on list

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday July 11th, 2013

 POLLING in one of the areas in Lae had to be halted briefly yesterday after a council candidate complained his and the names of his supporters were not on the electoral roll.

Matthew Mondo, a candidate for Lae ward 2, went to the polling area at China Town during the day and checked for his voters’ names but could not locate them. 

He said he was confused when he realised that some of his voters based on Bowbird Street, China Town, did not have their names on the roll.

“This is strange. We checked with the Electoral Commission office in town and our names were there; but on this list our names have been omitted,” Mondo said. 

Mondo produced a hand written note he got from the Electoral Commission office but cross-examination by officials at the polling station showed that the names he had were not registered.

“Are they telling me that they are using two separate lists?” he asked.

Mondo said his family members had been in Lae for a long time and had been voting in national elections. 

Electoral officials tried to explain the matter to Mondo but he would not listen to them, insisting that he was right.

A policeman later ordered him to leave, saying they could not answer his questions because 

the matter that he was enquiring about was not on the roll they had.

Scrutineers of other candidates who had been camping at the polling station got frustrated at Mondo’s antics. They started yelling at him, telling him to leave the area.

They accused him of interfering with the election process and disturbing the peace.