Commission announces completion of polling

THE Bougainville Referendum Commission (BRC) announced the completion of polling across all 829 locations, with the remaining three regional centres close at 6pm today.
Chief referendum officer Mauricio Claudio said as of Saturday, polling had finished for all locations including the atolls, with just a few voters using the regional centres.
“Today, we had 30 voters at Bel Isi Park, and just seven at Arawa,” he said.
“The time to close polling has come and we don’t want to risk double voting by people where their voter ink has begun to fade.
“No voter ink in the world can last a full two weeks, and it’s clear that everyone has come out to vote early. Now is the time to close polling and get on with the job of transporting ballot boxes safely and securely back to Buka.
“We call on all last-minute voters to go to their regional centre in Arawa, Buin or Buka by 6pm tomorrow.
“After this there will be no more normal voting.”
However, by law, postal votes can still be received by the BRC until Saturday. Postal voting, a first for the Papua New Guinea electoral process, was applied for by 316 people.
Yesterday and today, teams will return from Nissan and Nuguria and Carterets respectively, completing polling on atolls.