Villagers threaten to boycott future LLG elections

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday July 18th, 2013

 PEOPLE in two remote villages in West Yangoru LLG area, East Sepik,  say they will not entertain future elections if they do not receive government services in the next five years.

The Arapesh villages of Wihun and Boinam,  Wewak, cemented their promise by planting a tanget on Monday in the presence of a polling team that arrived on a helicopter to conduct voting there.

Police sergeant Herman Koni, who accompanied the polling team, received a petition from the villagers and delivered to the Electoral Commission office in Wewak yesterday.

“The people were frustrated but because I was from the area, I managed to diffuse the tension and we set up the polling booth in the afternoon.

“They planted a tanget and said that there would be no more elections in their ward unless a bulldozer cut a road through the jungle to their village and uprooted the plant,” he said. 

Koni said they wanted polling officials to travel by road to their villages to conduct elections in future.