Dion leads pack in ENB regional race

By ABIGAIL APINA
THE East New Britain provincial seat began eliminations yesterday after completing its quality check.
After count 96 last Friday, a quality check was conducted and errors were found and sorted out but figures did not balance, resulting in a delay in eliminations over the long weekend.
It is understood provincial electoral manager Terence Hetinu had to seek advice from Electoral Commission headquarters to address the situation on Monday.
The progressive counts were then rechecked and confirmed, while other figures were balanced at 1am yesterday to allow for elimination to start at 10am.
After the completion of the quality check, sitting Governor Leo Dion from the Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party polled 22,124 votes to maintain his lead in the race.
Former member for Rabaul Sir John Rumet Kaputin of the Melanesian Alliance party secured second spot with 17,112 votes, while Levi Orong of the National Alliance party was third with 10,268 votes.
The lone female candidate in the race, Lanieth Aua, was seventh of 15 candidates with 4,111 votes.  
After the third exclusion at 4pm yesterday, Dion had polled 32,523 votes, Kaputin 17,277 and Orong 10,502 votes.
Henry Ningo of PNG party had 9,147 votes, while Aua moved to sixth after the third exclusion.
The elimination process is expected to end tomorrow, with the winning candidate to be declared.