Woman joins race for Hagen mayor’s seat

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday 13th June 2013

 By JAMES APA GUMUNO

ONE woman is among the 26 men contesting the mayor’s seat in the Hagen urban local level government.

Ronnie Kulunga was an only female candidate who contested the last council election. She is now after the mayor’s seat.

Five other women have also filed their nomination papers to contest the council seats in ward six and eight.

After the close of nominations yesterday, 109 candidates including five women are contesting seats in the eight council wards while 27 are after the mayor’s seat.

Assistant returning officer Tom Kiap said two former mayors were also in the running – John Soti and Michael Jacob.

He said the draws for the candidates for Hagen urban would be conducted this morning at the electoral office opposite the Mt Hagen police station.

Meanwhile, a candidate for the mayor’s seat claimed that some people who didn’t live in the city had filed their nominations.

He said they did not have their names on the common roll. He said the eight council wards and lord mayor’s seat were for people living in the city for more than six months.

Attempts to get a comment from the election manager yesterday were not successful.