Kidu not happy with delay plans

By DULCIE OREKE
OPPOSITION leader Dame Carol Kidu is uncomfortable with a possible delay to the general election floated by the government.
She said there had already been too many bad political precedents set over the eight months and that added to the list.
“Any move to extend this term of parliament must be tightly time-framed and within the parameters of the constitutional provisions for such a deferment,” she said.
Dame Carol said a general election could only be substantially deferred during a declared state of national emergency.
“I do not accept the fact that the electoral rolls are not completed and this could prevent the holding of a free and fair general election,” she said.
Dame Carol told a press conference yesterday that dubious presentations of rolls had been an ongoing problem in all elections but “with concerted effort”, the situation could be rectified sufficiently within a tight timeframe.
She said both the Somare and O’Neill governments had discussed many times the introduction of a bio-metric voter system but, although commendable, it was not feasible for the system to be introduced before the next election.
Such a system would take years to implement successfully.