Commission making sure people have freedom to choose

THE secrecy of the ballot is a fundamental principle of elections in ensuring people have the freedom to cast their vote for an option in the upcoming Bougainville referendum, chief referendum officer Mauricio Claudio says.
Claudio made the remarks in relation to questions raised why the Bougainville Referendum Commission decided to have only one counting centre in Buka, North Bougainville. BRC said the decision was taken to avoid repercussions post-referendum, depending on the outcome of the poll.
The two options to be voted on are: independence or greater autonomy.
“The principle is that no one can know how each individual person or community voted,” Claudio said.
“This is in order to assure that the people have the freedom, they feel free to cast their vote for one option or the other.
“This also means that the BRC takes very seriously the issue of counting.
“We will be having one counting centre so that no one’s vote, no communities vote will be revealed once those results are known.”
Meanwhile, Claudio said apart from the fact that the BRC was set up late and funding was delayed, there were other related challenges which they were coping with.
He said the difficult environment presented a huge challenge in carrying out enrolment exercise and during polling.
“It’s a mammoth task in conducting enrolment, polling ranging from atolls to outside the country, so anywhere you look at it, it’s a significant undertaking.”