Educate locals about the election process

MUCH has been said about educating voters to be better informed so they know who to vote for when polling starts for the 2022 National General Election.
Researchers say most people in PNG cast their votes for the candidates they think is mostly likely to help them directly or help their families or village.
The last election, despite the much published campaign to vote on party policies and look out for personal traits in a candidate, it’s obvious the trend for localised or personalised benefits votes happened.
The only way to move away from that is through quality education from the urban to rural schools.
The issue of quality education must be addressed immediately by all concerned authority so at least the next generation of voters or those voting in the next elections after 2022 understand what party policies mean, what to look out for in candidates and basically vote without fear or favour.
Relevant authorities and the general public have spoken out, airing their concerns on the trend of voting for localised or personalised benefit.
Those who are endorsed by political parties will use the campaign period to outline their policies or platforms – what their party stands for and as individuals how they will deliver when they are elected into Parliament.
Then we also have those who will be running as independent candidates who also have their target list of things to do when elected.
The majority of voters in this county are the rural majority which means they will either be illiterate or semi-literate.
Most policies turn out to be similar with the ultimate target of delivering service to the people which is really not fair on our people in the rural areas as they have to decide between personalised voting and following what the various awareness programmes groups like from Transparency International and the Electoral Commission.
The high number of informal votes, maybe shows that, the voter does not understand the voting system.
Despite the awareness of the limited preferential voting system, many still do not understand that LPV system allows three choices for the voter.
The law requires that under LPV, the winning candidate must get 50 per cent + 1 of the formal votes cast in the electorate.
Understanding the counting rules will also assist in understanding how a winner is determined and help you cast your vote wisely.
In the LPV system there are two distinct parts to counting votes.
The primary count is the first part.
This refers to the 1st preference vote or vote 1 that is counted first.
At the end of the primary count, they must determine if a candidate has received 50 per cent + 1 of the first preference votes
to be declared the winner.
The target is to have ensure the number of number of informal votes gets lesser and that can be achieved through quality education.
Realistically, it will take more than just talking through awareness, seminars and road shows to achieve the change in mentality on this issue.
Like in previous editorials, the educated elites have the chance now to make a change – to reach out to the rural population and educate them on the electoral process.
If there is no education, be rest assured the voting trend of casing votes for candidates who they think and know is mostly likely to help them directly or help their families or help their village will happen again.
And the trend will continue if nothing constructive is done.