Electoral boundaries commision in place

BY JEFFREY ELAPA
A NEW electoral boundaries commission is in place to relook at boundary issues in the country, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister William Samb says.
Samb said commission members had been approved by Cabinet in Aug 2018 and would start to perform their work after the Bougainville Referendum in June.
He said one of the members had reached the retirement age and therefore would be replaced.
Samb said the commission had received some recommendations from MPs to split their electorates.
He said some large districts in term of land mass and population like Kandrian-Gloucester, Ijivitari, Kairuku-Hiri and Kerema had indicated their interest to split the boundaries.
Samb was responding to a question from West New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel on his districts of Talasea with a population of 300,000 people and Kandrian-Gloucester with 100,000 people.
He said where there were several commission reports made after the first report of 1977, but which were rejected by Parliament.
Samb said the only report that was accepted now was the one of 1977.