Electoral officer questions release of K2mil election budget

By JIMMY KALEBE
AN election official in Madang is worried about whether the K2 million budgeted for the local level government election in July will be released.
Madang election manager Sponsa Navi said the provincial government had allocated K2 million budget for the LLG election in the province.
“With the current situation faced now with the provincial administration, we are not sure if this money will come in full so that we can run the LLG election in the six districts with the 19 LLGs plus two newly established LLGs,” Navi said.
The two new LLGs are Wanuma in Middle Ramu and North Karkar in the Sumkar district.
They bring the total to 21 LLGs in Madang.
Navi said from the K2 million, K1 would go towards offsetting the General Election 2022 (GE22) arrears while the other K1 million for the LLG election.
Navi made the comment during the closing of a two-day workshop for LLG election coordinators in Madang.
The training was to educate the 21 LLG coordinators on how to use two forms (11 and 70) in identifying eligible voters in each ward and LLG.
“The new concept for enrolling voters will be used to identify and place them in their respective clans. This initiative will be piloted in this LLG election and will also be used in the 2027 General Election as well.”
Navi urged the people in Madang to check the rolls for their names when election officials visit their areas.