Nawaeb, Huon-Gulf, Lae complete polling

By EDDIE MOSES
POLLING in three electorates in the Morobe province: Lae Nawaeb and Huon-Gulf, was completed yesterday.
Lae was completed in one day last Wednesday and the 54 ballot boxes are in storage at the Sir Ignatius Kilage in-door stadium.
Huon-Gulf polling was completed over the weekend and the ballot boxes were locked in containers at Bumbu police barracks.
Forty-nine ballot boxes for Nawaeb are also in storage at the same location.
The remaining single ballot box from remote Kasanombe in the Nabak LLG area is expected today.
Returning officer, Jonah Mathews said polling was relatively incident free except for unlisted eligible voters missing out.
He said a summary of the returns from his assistant returning officers would indicate the exact percentage of voters unlisted.
“Roughly I estimate that 50% voted and 50% missed out,” he said.
Mathews is hopeful that allowances for his polling officials are sorted before Friday so counting can begin.
Polling officials for Huon-Gulf are also awaiting their allowances.
Counting for Huon-Gulf and Nawaeb will be at the Lae Polytechnic Institute recreational hall and the Bumbu Police Barracks recreational hall respectively.
In the Bulolo, electorate polling is expected to be completed in Wau rural this afternoon.
Except for a ballot box from Garaina to be airlifted to Bulolo today, all ballot boxes are locked up at the Wau and Bulolo Police stations.
The Wau boxes will be transported to Bulolo ready for counting by the end of the week.
Bulolo returning officer, Raune Jombat confirmed that counting should start by the end of the week if preparation of the counting venue is complete.
Polling in Finschhafen is almost complete with only four teams expected to finish today.
All completed ballot boxes are now in Gagidu and counting should begin by the end of the week.
Reports from Markham, Kabwum and Tewai-Siassi were unavailable but polling in these electorates is expected to be completed soon.