Teachers taking part in the electoral processes must notify their respective local education divisions. The word straight from the Teaching Services Commission Chair, Mr. Samson Wanghiome is that all teachers who are still taking part in the electoral processes must advise their Provincial Education Divisions so that they are aware of the status of the teachers. “All teachers, regardless if they hold high positions in their school of if they are principles, must comply to these directives otherwise they will be put on Leave Without Pay,” the chairman said. Mr. Wanghiome reiterated that he understands it is their constitutional right to take part, but it is also their duty as teachers to let the education divisions know that are taking part in the electoral processes so that provisions will be made for them in their absence The TSC have also been receiving reports from concerned citizens around the country that teachers have been absent in class and it is worrying for the schools that have already commenced classes. “People are reporting to us and telling us that teachers are doing this and teachers are doing that outside of their contact period in class. Give us name of those that are doing that so that we can approach them and speak to them,” the Chair said.

Teachers taking part in the electoral processes must notify their respective local education divisions. The word straight from the Teaching Services Commission Chair, Mr. Samson Wanghiome is that all teachers who are still taking part in the electoral processes must advise their Provincial Education Divisions so that they are aware of the status of the teachers. “All teachers, regardless if they hold high positions in their school of if they are principles, must comply to these directives otherwise they will be put on Leave Without Pay,” the chairman said. Mr. Wanghiome reiterated that he understands it is their constitutional right to take part, but it is also their duty as teachers to let the education divisions know that are taking part in the electoral processes so that provisions will be made for them in their absence. The TSC have also been receiving reports from concerned citizens around the country that teachers have been absent in class and it is worrying for the schools that have already commenced classes. “People are reporting to us and telling us that teachers are doing this and teachers are doing that outside of their contact period in class. Give us name of those that are doing that so that we can approach them and speak to them,” the Chair said.

In light of recent incident of destruction in Markham that happened over the weekend, Kabwum District in Morobe Province, over the weekend experienced similar incident were ballot boxes and ballot papers were destroyed at the Counting Centre at the Kabwum station. According to Election Manager Mr. Simon Soheke, the incident that occurred are very similar. Mr. Soheke stated that dissatisfied and disgruntled supporters and candidates, with the assumption that some areas that they believed to be places they were supposed to score high results did not add up to their expectation. Thus leading to the destruction of the counting centre. “There are many similarities with this incident and the incident in Markham where candidates were not happy that places in which they believed were, according to them, their base votes did not have the number of votes they thought they would have gotten from those areas,” he said. With counting coming to a complete halt after the destruction of the Counting Centre and the ballot boxes and papers at the Kabwum Station, Mr. Soheke has advised that there has been reports of a few regional ballot boxes that survived the destruction. “We have received reports that there were a few regional ballot boxes that were intact,” Soheke said. But the election manager has stated that they will be verified first before they can be salvaged to return to Lae for the Regional count. Mr. Soheke advised they only received the premature reports but is waiting on a full report before he finalizes his report for the commissioner. He added that it is up to the commissioner now to make a decision on the outcome of the elections in the district. “We cannot speculate on the decision of the commissioner but it is his turn to make a decision. He will have to take into consideration all the aspects of the incident before making his decision,” he said.

Counting in the capital is underway with both Moresby North-East, Regional and South all kicking off but not without a little drama. Moresby South Returning Officer, Mr. Tau Toea admits that with counting for the seat underway, they have experienced a little bit of controversy. “Well with what’s happening in the counting centre, I have scrutineers in here and as we are going through box by box, some boxes have been cleared, some returns done correctly by the Presiding Officers/Assistant Presiding Officers and some returns were not in an orderly or correct way which does not correspond to what the ballot papers are and those are some issues that have been a topic of debate with the scrutineers as we go through counting,” he said. He said the 3 wards all have encountered similar situations where PO’s and APO’s had printed [Written] their initials on the back of the ballot papers and scrutineers disputing the papers for the formers reasons. According to the RO, the scrutineers argued that the PO’s and APO’s should not have printed their initials on them but they should have signed, by which Mr. Toea disagreed. “By law, according to the Electoral Commission and the organic law supported by the regulations that govern their conduct in the organic law of sect. 153, sub-sect.18. That allows the presiding officer to print [Write] their signature or their initials on the back of the ballot paper,” he said. So far, the scrutineers are still not satisfied with that explanation and it is still an ongoing issue. Aside from that, they have also crowded the entrance into the counting venue, demanding that everyone that enters the venue be searched from top to bottom and demanding people to not carry their mobile phones and wallets into the counting area.

Polling teams in Western Province have almost completed polling with only 2 more teams left to deliver polling in Seltamin and Selbang in the Olsobip Rural LLG in the North Fly district. Election Manager, Mr. Max Paul is happy that poll commenced well with little to no hiccups. Mr. Paul stated that all ballot boxes have been retrieved and returned to the counting venue. “We have only 2 more teams to complete polling for the province then the counting training will follow and hopefully by tomorrow evening we will start counting,” Paul said. He added that due to the weather and the remoteness of the locations, polling for the final 2 teams had to wait a little before heading to their respective locations. With over 300 wards and being the largest and most amphibious province, Mr. Paul suggested that it was no easy task. “You know Western Province is the largest province in the country, we had to make sure we covered the whole of the province,” he said. Weather was by far the only challenge that Mr. Paul spoke about, stating that the unpredictability of the weather affected the logistics of the polling teams.

An unhappy Superintendent, George Kakas has voiced his anger over the numerous posts of Kompiam-Ambum being burnt down in the province and posted on social media. The Engan Provincial Police Commander those pictures that are now going viral on social media were taken by the arsonists that burnt the buildings. “I am not happy because those pictures were posted by the hooligans that burnt them down. But I can confirm that disgruntled tribesmen and candidates from certain tribes, we know all the tribes and we know who the candidates are and they will be rounded up and arrested,” he said. Superintendent Kakas said he personally travelled to the Meriama sub-district on Tuesday when they received threats from the tribesmen and found that some buildings had already been torched to the ground. Being a sub-district, Kakas said that it has government buildings and government houses for public servants that live there and provide much needed goods and services for people. This sort of actions taken by the attackers is very concerning as it depicts deterioration of self respect and respect in general in the society. Picture sourced: Floyd Sepoe

Counting for the three respective open seats in NCD is set to commence today. This is according to Moresby North-West Returning Officer, Vince Manukuyasi. This was due to counting training for the Temporary Election Workers who will be conducting counting for the respective electorates. “Counting will commence today due to training for the counting officials and other logistical issues that we have to sort out.” Meanwhile over at Moresby North-East, counting will also be starting today as soon as it is confirmed that checks for the boxes have been completed. This was confirmed by Assistant Returning Officer for the electorate, Mr. Tauna Lahui. Counting for the NCD regional seat will be held at the Rita Flynn Indoor Complex alongside the Moresby South Open Electorate.

Four provinces have already completed polling while other provinces are yet to complete polling. So far, over 30% of LLGs have confirmed that polling is completed while others are nearing completion. Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Simon Sinai has remarked that polling has progressed smoothly in most places with some experiencing delays due to security and logistical considerations. In terms of regional assessment, the commissioner advised that in the New Guinea Islands region, the provinces of East New Britain and New Ireland have completed polling and will start counting tomorrow. For the highlands region, Hela has completed polling and is currently in the process of counting, Southern Highlands has also completed polling and are now conducting the final extractions to Mendi for counting. As for Enga, Mr. Sinai advised that there are some places that have completed polling while other districts such as Kandep are awaiting transportation for the ballot boxes to be extracted from the area. As for Lagaip, some ballot boxes have yet to be deployed due to security issues. Aside from those provinces, Chimbu, Western Highlands and Jiwaka will poll on Friday. “There was a message that went out earlier on social media by the ACP from the Western Zone, was not correct, and the EC has now confirmed that the 3 provinces will go into polling on the 15th of this month,” he said. In terms of incidents, the commissioner stated that they were aware of the incident in the Moresby North-East electorate saying that it was unfortunate for it to have occurred. “By some reports that I am receiving, some police were trying to disperse the crowd and that incident happened,” Sinai said. He reiterated that in general the election is going well except for the roll issue that has been going on everywhere.

Polling for Southern Highlands Province has gone well with ballot boxes from all over the province expected to return to Mendi town in preparation for counting. SHP Election Manager, Alwyn Jimmy is delighted with the outcome of polling in the province, stating that he was happy that polling went smoothly with no major hiccups. Mr Jimmy cheerfully stated that they are now waiting for the a few ballot boxes to return to Mendi Town, before the proper checks are done in the lead up to counting. He said counting will commence tomorrow. Mr. Jimmy has confirmed that counting for Ialibu-Pangia, being the first district to finish polling will go first. He said that the electorate has already completed their polling and they are now waiting on the ballot boxes to return to Mendi before they commence counting. “They have a few more to finish and should they be completed quickly, we should start counting for the electorate tomorrow and then head on to Imbonggu,” he said. Mr. Jimmy added that as soon as the ballot boxes return, they will be checked and assured that counting for the province will commence. “We are expecting a few complaints during the counting but we will try to manage whatever that comes.” Mr. Jimmy highlighted the fact that these problems may arise but hopefully the team is transparent and will be able to tackle these issues without fear or favor.

Polling for the last electorate in NCD, Moresby North East got off to a slow start this morning with the last of the ballot boxes leaving the counting venue at Sir John Guise Stadium. Residents all over the electorate rejoiced that they had now been granted the chance to exercise their constitutional right to appoint their leader. But all throughout the day many voters expressed great discomfort towards the way polling got off to today. While some were upset they had to wait long hours to vote, those that voted got to spend that time trying to vote again. Situated under a blue tent amongst the 5 polling stations at Apex Park, sat this group of both men and women in a huddle using whatever that was necessary to remove the purple indelible ink that is used to confirm that a voter has already cast his/her vote. With a reasonable amount of police presence in the area, one would think that these people would have already been seen and apprehended. International observers, polling officials, scrutineers and security personnel, all situated at the 5 polling booths but none seemed to notice this heinous crime being committed in broad daylight.

Enga Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent George Kakas has confirmed that the police are looking into the incident at Laiagam, where candidates contesting the open seat are seen brawling over ballot boxes on a video gone viral on social Media. Boxes were taken by the candidates themselves and PPC Kakas stated that he will be personally leading a team into the district to assess the situation. He also stated that he received reports of ballot boxes being hijacked and that 6 people were direct casualties of the fighting. “There were reports that came to me indicating that there were 6 people shot during the hijacking of the boxes. As soon as we finish the insertion of the boxes into the other centers, we will be heading to Laiagam to conduct polling if polling has not commenced,” he said. At the moment the security concern of the PPC is that of the safety of the election officials and the security personnel after the Enga Police HQ in Wabag  received reports that supporters of candidates attacked security personnel in the province. He added that a police vehicle conducting security patrols in Kandep was ambushed by supporters of a candidate. “A police unit was conducting operations in Kandep and they were attacked by a group of men that used trees to block the road and assault the officers, resulting in the vehicle being damaged in the process,” he added. He is currently dispatching a search and rescue team to look for the officers and bring them back safely to Wabag.

Moresby South polling kicked off slowly in the Nation’s Capital, with polling for surburbs; Town, Paga and Touaguba Hill suspended from 10am in the morning to around 1pm in the afternoon yesterday, due to a dispute by a minority of scrutineers. The only female candidate contesting Moresby South, Michelle Hau’ofa, was unimpressed by the recent events that transpired last week and how the PNGEC has dealt with them. “The happenings are unfair and I hate to say this but incompetent, and polling today is disorganized,” she said. Hau'ofa added that it was a real disappointment and unfair for the people to have the deferral. She called on the Electoral Commission to get their act right and to properly manage the National General Elections. Hau’ofa outlined a few things that the Electoral Commission could improve on in the near future. “What we need is proper funding and competent employees at the same time. To me it’s just management,” she said. She added that if you have one and lack the other, all that will happen down the line will be a total waste of time. She urged that as soon as the government is formed after the elections, they should really look into the issues that affect the electoral processes.