Ex-Kumul wins Chimbu regional

By ZACHERY PER
FORMER PNG Kumul rugby league player Noah Kool has won the Chimbu regional seat.
He was declared winner at around 10pm on Sunday night.
Town residents who received the news started texting and calling supporters in the villages who flocked into Kundiawa in truckloads, especially those from his stronghold Gumine district, to celebrate.
Kool polled 77,748 votes at the end of the final elimination and was declared winner.
Independent candidate John Kerenga Gugl ended the race with 57,118 votes.
Outgoing governor Fr John Garia managed third spot and was eliminated to supply Kool more than 20,630 second preference votes to win the seat.
Kool, a former school teacher, had contested the Chimbu regional seat in a number of elections.
He had been scoring well to end up in the final five and, this year, finally reached the top spot.
His popularity showed quickly because he picked up preferential votes from all corners of Chimbu’s six districts.
Kool’s challenge is to continue the transparent provincial budget implementation process initiated by Garia. There were 73 candidates for the seat.