Madang counting delayed

By GLORIA BAUAI in Madang
COUNTING for the Madang Open started yesterday but was put on hold during the primary counting of regional votes, an official says.
Assistant provincial returning officer Albert Ului said the reason for the hold-up was because of a mix-up over barred regional candidate James Yali.
Ului said Yali was one of the names issued by the Electoral Commission and ineligible to contest because of a prior criminal conviction.
“The issue here is that prior to nominations, we had requested the EC to submit us a list of convicts that could not contest the seats but they delayed until after all nomination applications were accepted and candidate numbers issued,” he said.
“The named candidate fully participated with campaigning and had his scrutineers sent into polling areas.”
Ului said they would start primary counting in respective LLGs before going to the central tally centre.
He said if Yali was chosen by voters for any of the preferences they would need to decide how to proceed.
“For this reason, I have advised that we will not touch the regional box until we get a clear clarification from the commissioner and the legal officer.”
Ului said he was also served a letter from Yali’s team advising that the matter would be brought to court.
He said it was likely that if the counting for the regional seat were to go ahead they would have issues with Yali’s name being one of the preferences.
“I believe if regional counting commences, this issue will affect the open as well.”
Madang returning officer Joe Sapika said counting for the open seat at Tusbab Primary School would start with Ambenob LLG, then Madang open and Transgogol LLG. Sapika said he was confident they would be able to complete counting within a week in on or by the July 29 deadline for the return of writs.
“All 67 boxes for the open are at Jomba police station here in Madang.”
The Madang Open has 47 candidates while the regional seat has 37.

Election workers will be paid, says official

By JIMMY KALEBE
ALL General Election 2022 (GE22) election workers in Morobe have been assured by election manager Simon Soheke that their allowances will be paid by the Electoral Commission (EC).
Soheke said the list of names would be sent to the EC head office in Port Moresby for the payments to be made.
He said this, however, could take time as all names would be checked and bank accounts verified as a matter of procedure.
Soheke said this after some election workers raised concerns about their allowances
“In the end, all election workers will get still get their allowances paid,” he said.
Meanwhile, Soheke said he was confident that the declaration of all open seats in the province would be done on time before the return of writs on July 29.
“The onus is now on the candidates, their scrutineers and their supporters to work closely with the election officials to ensure that delays in the counting process are minimised as much as possible.”

Ling-Stuckey returned in Kavieng for 4th term

TREASURER Ian Ling-Stuckey (Pangu Pati) won the Kavieng open seat for a fourth time after securing 12,523 votes in the primary count for an absolute majority yesterday.
The 63-year-old was declared an hour after senior statesman and People’s Progress Party stalwart Sir Julius Chan was announced governor-elect after winning the regional seat.
Kavieng open runner-up John Knox (People’s Progress Party) polled 3,539 votes with Rubie Wanariu Kerepa (Independent) came in third with 2,765 votes.
Seventeen candidates contested the Kavieng seat.
Ling-Stuckey thanked the people of Kavieng for their continuous support and mandate which he said was an endorsement of Pangu’s eight point development plan for the district.
Ling-Stuckey had campaigned on a record infrastructure spending in health and education, housing, church, sea and land transport, small to medium enterprises, agriculture and women’s programmes.
“This is not a victory just for Pangu Pati or the majority who voted for me. It is a victory for all New Irelanders in Kavieng,” he said.
“Regardless of whether you are a supporter of Pangu Pati, National Alliance Party, People’s Progress Party or People’s National Congress Party or whether you voted me or not, you have every right to enjoy the benefits of the Kavieng district development authority’s programmes and projects.”
Ling-Stuckey urged the people of Kavieng to move on from the election and work to building a better district and province.
“Let us all reunite and cooperate as one community in New Ireland,” he said.
“We also have to use our mandate wisely and to reset our agenda with other MPs to forge a more cooperative and productive relationship between the district, New Ireland provincial government and the national government.”

Child of slain woman at risk

RELATIVES and friends of a two-year-old boy are concerned about his health and welfare after his mother was believed to be killed by a stray bullet during an election-related incident at ATS first block in Moresby North-East last week.
Community representative Joan Mul told The National yesterday that the boy only had his mother to provide for him but after her death, his future was uncertain.
“The two-year-old has two other siblings and they have been surviving on the little money that the deceased earned from selling cooked food at Gordon market,” she said.
The deceased was a single mother and had been renting a K50 shelter at the suburb with two other women.
“This baby needs to be taken care off and he needs someone to feed him, change his nappy and take care of him,” Mul said.
Police investigations into the case of the mother’s shooting are ongoing.