Understanding voting system vital

MUCH has been said about educating voters to be better informed so they know who to vote come election time.
Researchers say most people in PNG cast their votes for the candidates they think is most likely to help them directly, help their families or help their village.
The last election despite the much published campaign to vote on party policies and look out for personal traits in a candidate, it’s obvious the trend for localised or penalised benefits votes will continue this election.
The only way to move away from that is through quality education from the urban to rural schools.
The issue of quality education should be addressed by all concerned authority so at least the next generation of voters or those voting in the next two elections understand what party policies mean, what to look out for in candidates and basically vote without fear or favour.
Relevant authorities and the general public have spoken out airing their concerns on the trend of voting for localised or penalised benefit.
Those who have been endorsed by political parties are using the campaign period to outline their policies or platforms – what their party stands for and as individuals how they will deliver when they are elected into Parliament.
Then we have those who are running as independent candidates who have their target list of things to do when elected.
The majority of voters in this county are the rural majority which means they will either be illiterate or semi-literate.
Most policies turn out to be similar with the ultimate target of delivering service to the people.
The high number of informal votes could mean the voter does not understand the voting system.
Despite the awareness of the limited preferential voting (LPV) system, many still do not understand that it allows three choices for the voter.
Understanding the counting rules will also assist in understanding how a winner is determined and help you cast your vote wisely.
In the LPV system there are two distinct parts to counting votes.
The primary count is the first part.
This refers to the first preference vote or vote one that is counted first.
At the end of the primary count, they must determine if a candidate has received 50 per cent plus one of the first preference votes to be declared the winner.
The target is to ensure the number of informal votes gets lesser and that can be achieved through quality education.
Realistically it will take more than just talking through awareness, seminars and roadshows to achieve the change in mentality on this issue.
The educated elites have the chance now to make a change – to reach out to the rural population and educate them on the electoral process.
If there is no education, be rest assured the voting trend of casing votes for candidates who they think and know is mostly likely to help them directly or help their families or help their village will happen again.
The next election in 2022.
And the trend will continue if nothing constructive is done.

I still can not understand why many of us the educated elites are turning a blind eye on the cheating that had been taking place in all our National Elections throughout the country. We have many so called leaderships who know or are fully aware that they had cheated their way into parliament. Public officers/servants, disciplinary officers and many other who had facilitated and allowed such corrupt practices to continue are also guilty. Its not the voters that need to learn but there must be something drastic done to ensure voters vote freely, without intimidation and threats. What needs to be done???????

Many of the Defence Force, Police and CS Officers used in elections were very much involved in allowing such corrupt practices to occur as they themselves were already comprised with gifts of cash and kind during those times by candidates and supporters. They only had to look the other way and allow corrupt practices to go on. There was no one to ensure that the marking of ballot papers were transparent. There are many examples of Mal-practices where people (especially the women folk and elders) marked preferences 2 and 3 while preference 1s were already marked for them by male supporters and youths of a candidate in a polling boot in his/her clan….as other candidate from different clans would be stupid enough to go into another candidates area/clan. Another example is 1,400 ballot papers for voting sent to one clan with 5,000 plus potential voters – eligible voters could not vote because there were no ballot papers. The 3,600 ballot papers were hijacked and marked and included later. Of course with knowledge of the Returning Officers and people there stop such practices. These are examples of what happened during the national elections so what can the Electoral Commission and the Government of the day do to ensure such corrupt practices are eradicated completely before the 2022 National Elections.

Truth Shall Set Oneself Free (TSSOF)

One thought on “Understanding voting system vital”

William Ross Waiembi says:
June 23, 2020 at 2:38 pm
I still can not understand why many of us the educated elites are turning a blind eye on the cheating that had been taking place in all our National Elections throughout the country. We have many so called leaderships who know or are fully aware that they had cheated their way into parliament. Public officers/servants, disciplinary officers and many other who had facilitated and allowed such corrupt practices to continue are also guilty. Its not the voters that need to learn but there must be something drastic done to ensure voters vote freely, without intimidation and threats. What needs to be done???????
Many of the Defence Force, Police and CS Officers used in elections were very much involved in allowing such corrupt practices to occur as they themselves were already comprised with gifts of cash and kind during those times by candidates and supporters. They only had to look the other way and allow corrupt practices to go on. There was no one to ensure that the marking of ballot papers were transparent. There are many examples of Mal-practices where people (especially the women folk and elders) marked preferences 2 and 3 while preference 1s were already marked for them by male supporters and youths of a candidate in a polling boot in his/her clan….as other candidate from different clans would be stupid enough to go into another candidates area/clan. Another example is 1,400 ballot papers for voting sent to one clan with 5,000 plus potential voters – eligible voters could not vote because there were no ballot papers. The 3,600 ballot papers were hijacked and marked and included later. Of course with knowledge of the Returning Officers and people there stop such practices. These are examples of what happened during the national elections so what can the Electoral Commission and the Government of the day do to ensure such corrupt practices are eradicated completely before the 2022 National Elections.
Truth Shall Set Oneself Free (TSSOF)

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