Sapau leads Manus regional race

SITTING Governor Michael Sapau was leading with 558 votes after the first two counts for the Manus regional seat as counting got underway in the province last night.
Counting which was supposed to kick off at 6pm was behind schedule due to a power blackout which returned at 8.49pm where counting of box one commenced.
Wep Kanawi polled 198 votes with Charlie Benjamin coming in third with 138 votes.
For the Manus Open seat, Leslie Roai led with 689 votes after the first count, Ronny Knight  was second with 253 and current MP Job Pomat followed with 198 votes.
Manus has 18 candidates for regional and 21 for Manus open.
Counting was held at the Sahat Hall in Lorengau.
Counting continued throughout the night with staff working in shifts.
Earlier in the day yesterday, there was a briefing for counting officials with the provincial election steering committee.
Training for counting officials and scrutineers was also conducted yesterday.
Counting continued overnight and a declaration was expected at the end of the week or over the weekend.
After counting was declared at about 7pm,the first four LLG ballot boxes (four for Manus open and four for regional) were brought into the counting hall.
These were for Aua-Wuvulu LLG, Nigoherm LLG, Bisikani LLG and Soparibeu LLG
He said so far one box from Aua-Wuvulu and Nigoherm were counted yesterday.
The counting arena was filled with mainly scrutineers, however, the environment was peaceful with the presence of about 50 police personnel securing the area.