Electoral roll update fraud surfaces in New Ireland says provincial administrator

Papua New Guinea goes to the polls in June 2022 with writs to be issued in about April 2022.

During elections issues of people not having their names registered on the electoral roll have been rampant.

The Electoral Commission- the body which conducts the elections are endeavoring to register voters.

While in New Ireland, Provincial Administrator and Chairman of the Provincial Election Steering Committee Lamiller Pawut has raised serious concerns that there are individuals and political parties in the province attempting to circumvent the accepted process of registering voters by the Electoral Commission.

"Agents from certain political parties in New Ireland Province have gone to the Electoral Commission office in Port Moresby with complete rolls of voters in the Council and Wards for entry into the master database of the common roll," he said.

 Pawut said this is criminal and outright act of lawlessness against the State and people of New Ireland and the Electoral Commission cannot allow greedy and power-hungry people to erode the democratic process in the coming 2022 national elections.

He claimed that the national elections in New Ireland in 2017, for the first time, was overshadowed with alleged corrupt practices and political interference in the updating of the Common Roll and conduct of polling right through to the counting of votes.

 

Mr Pawut called on the new Electoral Commissioner to carefully screen the performance of middle managers and junior officers at head office and the provinces that deal directly with the Common Roll updates of the master database.

 

He said New Ireland Province has pioneered the Village Record Book that will become the official tool for updating the overall population and eligible voters for entry into the Common Roll once the MOU is ratified and signed between the Commission and the New Ireland Government.

 

He has called on the people of New Ireland to act smart and reject any attempts by unscrupulous agents to take away their constitutional rights as free citizens with guaranteed rights to choose their leaders during the elections.