Polling will still continue for some electorates in the East Sepik province due to the late insertion of polling teams due to logistical problems faced with the transportation of teams.
According to the Provincial Election Manager Mr. James Piapia, the Ambunti-Dreikikier and Angoram districts still have a couple of wards to go to the polls because the polling teams were unable to get into some areas of the district sooner due to issues with fuel for transportation.
Apart from this, he said other districts like Yangoru Sausia, Maprik, Wewak and Wosera Gawi have wrapped up polling and should progress onto counting this week at their respective district headquarters.
Meanwhile, the provincial Election Manager also confirmed that a very huge number of people in the province were turned away on polling day because their names were not in the electoral roll, excluding them from exercising their constitutional right to vote a leader of their choice.
The Provincial Election Manager, Mr. James Piapia, admitted that this led to people being frustrated at polling sites and resorting to damage the ballot boxes.
“In Wewak the people became angry when they found out that their names were not on the roll, this led to youths frustrated and using objects to break the ballot boxes.”
Mr. Piapia hopes that everything else goes smoothly from here on so that counting can be completed on time.