Commission, provincial govts unite to save costs

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ELECTORAL Commissioner Patilias Gamato says that they will be running this year’s local level government elections in partnership with provincial governments to pool resources and save money.
He told the Press Club in Port Moresby on Monday that he was concerned about funding.
“Looking back at the 2017 national election, Electoral Commission’s budget was K279 million,” Gamato said.
“For the LLG, the total budget of K100 million is being split between the Electoral Commission and the provincial administrations.
“Therefore, Electoral Commission will be dependent on the goodwill and performance of the provincial and LLG administrators to provide the base logistical and some staff support for the election.
“We have been asked by the national Government to administer the LLG elections in partnership with provincial administrators in order to promote provincial ownership of the LLG elections.
“This is an exciting potential partnership, but it also means that Electoral Commission, as the electoral management body, needs to conclude agreements with 20 different administrators, needs to conclude agreements and ensure increased complexities of implementation.”
Gamato said that they had received the first tranche of K13 million which would enable the printing and delivery of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials such as indelible ink, seals, ward writs, electoral rolls, training manuals, ward ballots and polling schedules. He said the commission still required K17 million of its K30 million allocation to conduct logistical operations for polling and counting activities.