Voting system lacking: EC

By DYLAN MURRAY
ELECTORAL commissioner Simon Sinai is attributing election-related issues in the Highlands to competition and lack of awareness of the system.
Sinai told a recent press conference that issues this year included bloc voting, controlled voting, violence and overall unfairness.
That was because, he said, people were not educated about the voting system in place.
“Most of these issues were caused by power plays,” he said.
“Because there is a lack of understanding about the voting system, we have the limited preferential voting system.
“There is a lot of chaos as supporters and candidates are more concerned with the first vote.”
He recalled past elections when the first-past-the-post system was used, saying that issues in those times were similar to what had taken place in the Highlands this year.
“We need to make the public properly understand the LPV system,” he said.
Transparency International PNG director Richard Kassman shared Sinai’s views, saying the public needed to be better informed of the systems in place.
Kassman said election officials and other officers, including security personnel and those in charge of future elections, needed to be made aware of their roles.