Kapris wants physical check of eligible voters in Maprik electorate

AN electorate in East Sepik has asked the Electoral Commission to do physical checks on people because of discrepancies in the number of eligible voters in each ward.
Maprik MP Gabriel Kapris has written to Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen for a physical count on the number of people in one of the local level government council areas.
“This is one of the major concerns raised by other members of parliament – for the Electoral Commission to release the preliminary rolls for inspection,” he said.
“The vote by parliament to defer the elections was to draw the attention of the public to the concerns and not necessarily to delay the election because parliament does not have the powers to do that.”
According to the eligible voters record, small villages or hamlets that should have voter population of 300 or 400 have more than the bigger villages. For example, the small hamlets of Yeniko have 700 eligible voters, Malba (800) Gwarip (800), Kombikum (800) and Yalihin (682).
This is of concern because some of the biggest villages in Maprik such as Supari 1, 2 and 3 have a combined eligible voter population of 542.
The big villages in Diahika 1, 2 and 3 have a combined 400 eligible voters.
“There is really no logic at all in these inflated figures and this inconsistency is common in one local level government of Yamil-Tamavi LLG.”
He has urged Trawen to ask the returning officer for Maprik to do a physical count as there could be ghost names, names of rivers, pigs, dogs and chickens included in the eligible voter information for that one LLG.