Western beats rain to start polling in Kiunga

By Alphonse Porau
POLLING in Western started yesterday with the people of Kiunga urban and rural being the first in the North Fly open electorate to cast their votes.
Western election manager Max Paul said despite the slow start in the polling due to disruptions caused by rain, they managed to deploy polling officials and security forces in time.
“Kiunga urban started their voting  (yesterday) early in the morning while two teams that went out to Kiunga rural, with security personnel, started a bit late due to rain,” Paul said.
“I have also heard that polling in the Star Mountains and Olsobig LLG area have also started.”
Paul said there were complaints about people not having their names on the list, but there was nothing they could do about that.
He told The National that there was a slight delay in polling in Middle Fly as they were awaiting security personnel to arrive while polling in South Fly was expected to start on Thursday.
“According to the returning officer of Middle Fly open, polling officers in some places were awaiting security personnel to arrive before polling could start.
“Nomad and Lake Murray started yesterday.
“For South, they are still waiting for the election kits to be dispatched to polling stations  for voting to start on Thursday,” Paul said.