The member elect for Nuku Open and Pangu Party Member, Joseph Sungi, has expressed concerns about certain issues the country had to face in this year’s National General Elections and wants to see that these problems a fixed before the next election in 2027.
Speaking at the Press Conference held at the APEC Terminal at Jacksons Airport in Port Moresby on Saturday 30th July, Sungi highlighted some of the main issues on how the election was conducted, such as the update of the Common Roll, was the biggest problem in terms of getting the right population figure of the country.
“In this year’s election we seemed to have rushed the process. Organization of the election was not something we expected compared to past elections. At this point, we don’t know the exact population figure of the country and that is a main concern.”
Sungi said that though we have government agencies such as National Planning, PNG Civil and Identity Registry and NID offices located throughout the country, there seems to be questions and confusion raised regarding their job divisions.
He also ensured that one of the main agendas that Pangu Pati in coalition with the National Alliance Party will do moving forward, is to make sure that the population of the country is sorted out and that they will provide the exact figure come election time.
“We don’t have to wait for the next Electoral Commission to update the Electoral Roll; the population figure should be automatically given to us from the updated records.”
“It would make the Electoral Commission’s job a lot easier so that they are able to know exactly how many eligible voters per ward, LLG, district and electorate. This is the plan for us the coalition government to do.”
Speaking on behalf of his people in Nuku district in West Sepik province, Sungi said that 20% of his people did not get the chance to vote and was certain that this was the same issues faced in other parts of the country as well. He added that moving forward, the population of the country must be updated annually as well as the database.