CCTV's TO MONITOR COUNTING

 

NATIONAL ELECTIONS 2022 WILL GO AHEAD, SAYS PRIME MINISTER JAMES MARAPE

By GORETHY KENNETH of Post-Courier

THE NATIONAL Elections will go ahead as planned with CCTV to monitor counting, Prime Minister James Marape says.

He announced yesterday ‘several reforms that will be included in election monitoring this year’.

“We will have CCTV used for counting to make the elections fair and friendly for all.

“For purposes of transparency, we will have Transparency International, National Research Institute and civil society representation in the Elections Planning Committee,” he said.

“We will have separate voting queues for men and women to cast their votes without undue influence, as in the past.

“It is the right of voters to make their choice based on their God-given wisdom – not on inducements, bribery, cash, food, 'wantok' system or hype."

The last session will be the third week of April.

The PNG Electoral Commission and the Prime Minister’s office have brushed aside reports of the deferral of NGE 2022 as untrue.

The Electoral Commission said the 2022 National General Election is ready to go and that preparations throughout the country, although slow, are on track for the issue of writs on April 28.

Also, the ballot papers for the elections have arrived in Port Moresby over the weekend from Australia. 

Australia printed 12 million of the country's ballot papers at a cost of K10 million (US$2.8 million) to be used in the NGE 2022 as announced  by Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai early last month.

The papers are now being guarded by a 24-hour police security operation which has been mounted at a location where the papers are being kept.

And the indelible ink to be used during polling will arrive in the country this weekend, an indication that election will go ahead as planned.

PM Marape said there would also be severe penalties imposed on election officials who engage in “improper and illegal conduct” during elections.