Ballot papers for New Ireland is being distributed into the two respective electorates of Namatanai and Kavieng in preparation for polling. This sees ballot papers for Namatanai being delivered under tight police security into the Namatanai open electorate. According to Election Manager and Provincial Returning Officer, Mr. Benjamin Kliawi, 31 boxes containing a total of 55 750 ballot papers is distributed to Namatanai electorate while 21 boxes holding 42 950 ballot papers for Kavieng Open remains in the holding container at the Kavieng Police Station. Both electorates have a total of 52 boxes which contains a grand total of 98,700 ballot papers for New Ireland province. Kliawi further confirms that with the ballot papers distributed to Namatanai, a total of 82 ballot boxes were also distributed, 41 of which are for Namatanai open and 41 for the Provincial seat. Chief of Security for the Province, PPC Chief Inspector, Felix Nebanat confirms that police have been doing 24/7 monitoring and securing of the sensitive materials since its arrival last week Tuesday 21st June. Nebanat says upon the electoral office's request, police had to secure the perimeter of the storage container and oversee the extraction of the ballot papers that were distributed to Namatanai. "The sensitive materials are transported under heavy escort along the 4 hours stretch of the Buluminksi highway to ensure they arrive safely in Namatanai," Nebanat said. Meanwhile Kliawi thanked PPC Nebanat for the close protection and securing of the sensitive materials since its arrival last week. He (Kliawi) also thanked the CEO Administration Mr. Moses Taram and the administration for the support given to his office so far. PPC Nebanat appealed to the voting populace of New Ireland, candidate scrutineers, police scrutineers and other appropriate personnel, to make it their business to know the number of ballot papers there is for their respective LLGs and their districts. "It is critical that you must know the total number of ballot papers so that you can do your personal quality check and or cross examination with the number of ballot papers when it comes to counting. The number of ballot papers shown herewith must correspond with the total number of ballot papers summed during the counting. In that way, you help the police in keeping a tab on the election process in order to maintain transparency,” Nebanat said.