Voting freedom belongs to all

Editorial

WITH the issue of writs expected on Thursday, one can expect the campaigning process to intensify.
And with well over 4,000 candidates expected to seek public office, the voter across the 118 seats has an absolute assortment to choose from.
In the 2017 general election – 3,340 candidates were nominated to contest the 111 seats.
This time around, seven new electorates have been created.
But that is not to say that those who turn out at the polls to cast their ballots will choose unwisely or be swayed by a whim or fancy, or induced in some way to vote for a particular candidate.
We have to give our people some credit provided all procedures are followed by election officials and all things being equal the democratic process will prevail.
Voters in this country tend to get a bad rap and indeed the whole electoral process has not had the best public relations over the previous elections judging by the number of post-election petitions and allegations of improprieties that crop up soon after the final results are announced.
If past experiences are anything to go by, there will most likely be a number of issues that arise during nomination and polling that will not only question and test the ethical standards and expectations that we as a nation put on this important process but show far we have progressed as a nation as well.
The majority of voters in this country are the rural majority, in fact apart from the electorates that are within the boundaries of the provincial capitals and the precious few urban settings, the masses will come from the districts and the electorates they fall into.
That means they will either be illiterate or at best semi-literate.
So what can we hope for from these voters?
As was said in our previous editorial, political parties must disseminate their policies to the masses in a way that allows them to make the best choice they can according to the dictates of their conscience and of course their politics, or in other words what is most important to them.
While this is a valid concern understandably held by many educated citizens, it is not nearly as important as the question of whether the people in each electorate, and in each ward, will be allowed to cast their ballot without any form of threat, duress, intimidation, coercion and in some cases without being duped by unscrupulous electioneers and their cohorts.
The instances of block voting are an issue in some electorates with hearsay evidence from one electorate in the Highlands where ballot papers were filled out en mass in favour of a certain candidate.
The reason given for such a situation to come about was that the people were all in agreement about who they wanted in Parliament and this was ostensibly the easiest and quickest way to that goal.
Let us not forget that Papua New Guinea is a democracy and therefore citizens, regardless of what they believe in or hold as important, have the constitutional and human right to choose as they see fit.
The key here is freedom.
The people are free to vote, unfettered by expectations of the tribe, clan or family and the other forces that may come to bear on them.
While there is something to be said for loyalties and voting along established lines, the practice of casting one’s ballot is still and should always be seen as a personal act for a collective goal – to choose society’s mandated leaders.