It has been one year since the 2022 National General Election (NGE) was held and like the previous elections before it, it was riddled with violence; however, the question now posed is that will the next National Election be better.
Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas is one of the Members of Parliament who is adamant to see this change for the better and is enquiring what the government is doing now to get the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) to work on improving the election process going forward.
“To maintain democracy, it is important for government to make sure we protect the process of election,” said the governor.
Sir Ipatas said the election process for the 2022 NGE, was abused where candidates even claimed ballot boxes for themselves for their people to vote, which was something not seen before in an election. Even provinces considered to be peaceful during past National Elections, saw violence and destruction.
It is for this reason that the governor is calling on the State to look at the PNGEC to assess and fix the election process, by assessing the things that went wrong and coming up with better solutions to the problem in order to have a free, fair and safe election in 2027.
He said the PNGEC is a critical office with the responsibility to recommend changes to fix the election process and therefore, its management must be strengthened by having competent people in the management positions so to have a robust electoral commission that can improve the election process.
“Let’s appoint credible people to these offices who can do some good,” said Governor Sir Ipatas.
He also stressed the importance of security forces engaged in the National Elections, where he claimed that they were compromised in some parts of the country during the 2022 NGE where they didn’t fully carry out their duties to ensure a safe election. He wants the government to also look into this and have this sorted now before the next National Election in 2027.
“I think our government need to talk to all these agencies to do their mandated duties accordingly.”
Sir Ipatas concluded by saying that the National General Election is an important part of the democratic system of government and should be done in true democratic fashion.