Candidates claim ill treatment

By HELEN TARAWA
AN argument broke out among candidates of Moresby North East as they stood on the queue to file their nominations to contest the general election.
The commotion was ignited by disgruntled candidates who claimed they were treated unfairly by the NCD Electoral Commission officers. NCD assistant election manager Rosalyne Tabogani said that the nomination in the city in the four electorates was quiet except for Moresby North East.
“We anticipated a quiet nomination period except for Moresby North East and North West electorates.
“Because of the misunderstanding by candidates in the process of calling names to nominate, this had caused the commotion,” Tabogani said.
She said the electoral officers were called in to quickly help the candidates and got the job moving.
The heated argument erupted between the candidates when businessman Sergey Mosin was called to file his nomination.
The other waiting candidates alleged that the Electoral Commission officers had accepted his nomination ahead of others.
Moresby North East returning officer Billy George explained that they were following the list that the candidates had filled.
George said no one was given preference ahead of others.
“We were only following the list that the candidates themselves filled and no one was above the others,” he said.
The nomination process was halfway through when the argument erupted.
George assured candidates that everyone would be registered.
The nomination process continues today and will end on Thursday, May 26, 2022.

Smooth nominations for NCD

By LULU MAGINDE
FORMER NCD Governor Wari Vele was among nine other candidates who nominated for the National Capital District (NCD) regional seat yesterday.
Some of the other candidates were Steven Kilage, Sylvia Pascoe, retired pilot and independent candidate Paun Nonggorr, Lucille Paru and Ben Dangima.
By 4.50pm, the NCD provincial returning officer Kila Ralai announced to candidates still waiting in line that they were going to close nominations by 5pm, at which time the majority of candidates had already been waiting for some time.
There was confusion among supporters whether returning officers should be accepting nominations at 4pm or before that as Ralai had started to accept nominations by 3pm after Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai had issued notice to all returning officers to start accepting nominations by 8am.
While candidates were nominating inside the indoor complex, supporters of Kilage, Dangima and Paru were rallying support from all four corners of the field surrounding the complex.
Pangu Pati candidate Paru entered with her entourage and waited patiently for nominees before her to finish until she was finally allowed to place her nomination.
She shared some jokes while seated next to Kilage and was in good spirits as one of the four female candidates endorsed by Pangu Pati to contest this election.

Nomination drama for Moresby North East

THE majority of candidates from the Moresby North East electorate who filed their nominations to contest the 2022 general election yesterday either had their names misspelt or missing from the common roll.
Among those whose name was on the common roll was current MP John Kaupa.
NCD assistant election manager Rosalyne Tabogani confirmed that there were candidates without names on the common roll.
She told The National that her team was given copies of form 11 to assist candidates register their names on the common roll while filing their nominations.
“Our teams are given the form 11 to ensure that candidates without names on the common roll are registered right away,” Tabogani said.
A total of 35 candidates filed their nominations yesterday including former North East member Andrew Mald and three women.
Electoral Commission officers took time to ensure the candidates were registered on the common roll.
This led to a long queue of candidates and their supporters waiting anxiously.
Tabogani realised the tension building up among the candidates and called for more manpower to speed up the process.
The nominations opened at 4pm at the Unagi Oval which was already alive and active with candidates and their supporters as early at 10am.
Tabogani and her team after a briefing with the intending candidates opened the nominations at 3.30pm.
The first to file his nomination was Thomas Gamu.
All nominations were accepted and the process will continue today and for the next five days.

Three women contest city seat

Three women are among the 35 candidates that filed their nominations to contest the Moresby North-East seat in this year’s general election.
The women included Tania Bale, who is contesting under the People’s Party, Diane Unagi (United Labour Party) and Quina Ongugo an independent candidate.
Bale told The National that she decided to contest to help fight corruption and law and order in the electorate.
“Moresby North East is made up of settlements and I’ve seen how people struggle for basic services like water and electricity,” she said. “Coming from a place where these services are accessible I feel for these people and want to assist them which is why I have put my hand up to contest.
“I want to help these people and if I don’t help now then when will they get help and if not now when?”
Ongugo said she came from a background of having worked with Hope World PNG and had seen the challenges that affected women.
Unagi turned up in black to show her respect to the late Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil as she filed her nomination.