Senior cop blames illegal, common practices for unfair polling results

A SENIOR police officer has blamed illegal practices common in the country for unfair and unrealistic election outcomes.
National Capital District metropolitan commander Peter Guinness said instead all fingers were pointing at the Electoral Commission for its poor election preparations and the flawed electoral roll.
Guinness said the problems associated with the Electoral Commission “are isolated and one-off, unlike the issues of election bribery, fraud and illegal voting that have evolved into cultural practices in Papua New Guinea politics”.
Guinness believes the delays and problems experienced in this and past elections have been compounded by the prevalence of illegal election practices.  
“We continually overlook the issues of illegal election practices, which involve vote buying, bribery of polling officials, intimidation of voters, double voting and the many other illegitimate practices that continue to undermine the outcome of elections over the years,” Guinness said.
He said it was educated Papua New Guineans who persistently perpetrated these election crimes at every five-year interval in their bid to hijack power and wealth from a political system that was sympathetic to those causes.
Responding to queries on illegal voting at polling venues in the Moresby Northwest electorate last week, Guinness said illegal elections and voting practices were rampant in all electorates of NCD and throughout the country.
“If we have highly educated people doing that, what will the 2017 national elections be like?” Guinness said.