Officials protest delay in allowances

COUNTING officials for the Hagen Open seat at the Kimininga Counting Centre in Western Highlands are staying away because they are yet to be paid their allowances.
They did not turn up for counting yesterday morning and wanted their allowances paid before they returned to work.
Western Highlands election manager Philip Telape said their allowances were with the Returning Officer Paul Goimba.
He said the officials would still receive their allowances and counting on the primary votes should continue.
He said counting for Tambul/Nebilyer was also suspended yesterday morning to seek clearance for the counting of the three disputed ballot boxes.
Telape said the three presiding officers had signed statutory declaration forms stating that no polling was conducted.
He said the counting would continue with or without the three ballot boxes as soon as they got legal advice.
He said the counting on the primary votes for Dei and Mul/Baiyer continued and were likely to be completed by today, adding that they would go through quality checks this weekend.
For the provincial seat, he said  there were 300 boxes yet to be counted.
He said so far, counting was progressing smoothly at the Kimininga police barracks under tight security.