NCD counting officials charged

By GEORGINA KOREI
A SENIOR police officer has confirmed that two election officials in the National Capital District (NCD) Regional counting were charged for vote rigging.
He said two suspects were arrested and charged with a counts each of uttering by the Investigative Task Force (ITF) team.
“The ITF is a special unit specifically formed to tackle all election-related crimes in NCD,” Ikumu said.
He said the police unit responded to a call-out by scrutineers at the Rita Flynn counting venue after they observed irregularities at the counting room.
He said the two suspects were working in the counting room as tally officials when they altered the progressive tallies for the NCD Regional seat.
“Police will allege in court that incumbent Governor Parkop’s tally was altered by these two suspects,” he said.
Parkop was allegedly sitting on 2,322 when he scored another 39 ballots after count 27, for polling team box number EC025907.
Instead of recording 2,322 on the score board, the two suspects compromised and allegedly wrote 4, 322 on Parkop’s tally.
Police also alleged that one of the two suspects altered NCD regional candidate Andrew Ottonia’s record on the progressive tally using the same method.
After count 25 Ottonia scored 65 votes and after count 26 for polling team 102, box number EC0225877.
Instead of recording 77 on the progressive tally, he allegedly wrote 195 on Ottonia’s progressive tally.
These actions angered scrutineers and the matter was brought to the police.
Ikumu said the two suspects were now in Boroko Police Station cells.
Meanwhile, Parkop dismissed allegations implicating him with the actions of the official as false with no evidence.
“It is illogical for me to manipulate the tallies when I am already leading,” he said.
“Why would I manipulate the tallies?
“What will I gain from it?
“My rivals especially those making those complaints and allegations will gain from it by portraying the impression that the election is manipulated.”
Parkop said it was understandable that it was human error caused by the recorder and it had been sorted out.
“It did not affect the cumulative tallies because all the tallies per count and ballot boxes are all ok,” he said.
“It should not have become a police matter but for reasons only known to police as they have been continuously interfering with the counting process.”

Disruptions slow counting: RO process: RO

DISRUPTION to the counting process by candidates and their scrutineers is one of the reasons counting was not completed in Moresby North-West on Friday, an official says.
Electorate returning officer Vincent Manukayasi said there was a lot of disruptions since counting started and had never gone on for two consecutive days without a suspension.
He said on Friday that with just 10 boxes to complete the primary count, counting was suspended at around 2pm because the scrutineers raised concern about the return of writs and the extension.
He said scrutineers wanted the 10 boxes counted after receiving written notice of the gazette for the extension of the issue of writs.
“I wanted to count until 4.06pm but they were persistent that counting should be stopped,” Manukayasi said.
“We have been stopping counting, restarting, stopping and restarting throughout this counting period.
“Everyone is exhausted.
“It will take a counting session to complete the remaining boxes.
“We will resume counting once we receive advice from the head office.”

Sumkar counting affected by space at venue, funding

By GLORIA BAUAI
SUMKAR returning officer (RO) Peter Omangem says his officials need extra space and funding to speed up counting to complete the electoral process.
Omangem said counting for the district started last Monday but was delayed by polling for Naiyudo local level government (LLG), as well as logistic arrangements to secure the counting venue and accommodation for official.
Omangem said he had asked the provincial election manager to help them build a temporary structure at the United Church counting venue as it was too small to conduct side-by-side counting for the regional and open seats.
He said the Aug 5 deadline for Sumkar counting would still not be enough time unless his team did 24-hour shifts.
He said financial incentives for counting officials and security personnel was another issue given that the counting officials had not yet received their allowances.
He confirmed a cash advance for counting was given to his assistants (AROs) however, these monies were used to offset loans taken during polling.
“Cash advances for polling was only K5,000 regardless of the number of teams and the size of LLG so many of our teams returned from polling with invoices of outstanding loans,” he said.
“The cash advance for counting went towards offsetting these loans resulting in a shortage to cater for counting and the issues we are currently facing.
“All we’re asking for is an additional K20,000 to cater for these needs so we can be done by Thursday.”
He said in the meantime, counting picked up pace over the weekend, going through one LLG at a time.

Counting for Gulf seats halfway through, official says

By JAMIE HARO in Kerema
GULF elections are halfway through the counting process with declarations expected to occur before return of writs on Friday (Aug 5), an official says.
Election manager Poevare Tore said with the extension date for the return of writs, they had up to four days to complete the process before declarations on Wednesday or Thursday especially for the provincial seat.
“What we are doing now is conducting first preference counting for each LLGs and then conducting quality checks after that for each LLG,” he said.
The provincial returning officer explained that as soon as the first preference counting and quality checks were done for all 10 LLGs for the regional seat, they would head straight into the elimination process for the regional seat final results.
He said after counting and quality checks for the Taure-Lakekamu LLG was completed, they started counting for Kaintiba and Kotidanga LLGs which were the last two LLGs for Kerema electorate yesterday and were expected to start counting for Kikori.