LLG elections will not be delayed, PM tells Parliament

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill says there will be no delays to the local level government elections starting in August.
“We cannot waste time. LLG elections are coming up and Inter-Government Relation Minister Kevin Isifu has already announced the dates for the writs to be issued on August 31,” O’Neill said.
“There will be no delays. We cannot allow another year to delay the LLG elections.
“That particular level of Government needs proper representation. We must conclude the elections in an orderly manner and ward councillors will vote for the LLG presidents.
“I have requested Treasury to put some money into the accounts of the Electoral Commission in the next few weeks so that we are able to plan clearly on how we can conduct the elections.
“We are advising the electoral commissioner to use the public servants in the districts rather than flying outsiders in which is expensive.
“We’ve also advised him to use the facilities of the districts and district public servants. Funds will be sent directly to the districts so they can help conduct the elections.”
O’Neill said he was hoping that before this session of parliament rose, he would be able to announce the names and constitutes of new electoral boundaries.
He said that Cabinet had tasked government officials to realign the boundaries of big electorates such as Talasea in West New Britain, Kairuku-Hiri in Central and others so that our people would be represented in the parliament .
National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop said the election costs were high and there were so many petition cases.
He said that some large electorates should be split so that people were represented equally.