26/07/2022
𝐆𝐆 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
Tuesday 26th July, 2022
H.E. Grand Chief Sir Bob Bofeng Dadae, GCL, GCMG, KStJ, Governor General of Papua New Guinea, is appealing to Papua New Guineans throughout the country to refrain from inciting violence, fighting and destruction to lives and properties as the national general elections draws to a close.
Grand Chief Sir Bob has expressed concerns about the recent spate of violence in Port Moresby, Enga and Markham and Kabwum in Morobe province.
Grand Chief Sir Bob has appealed to everyone involved in the elections from candidates to their supporters, scrutineers and election officials to conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner so that the national general elections may be completed successfully.
“Now that elections are in the counting period, I am appealing to everyone from the candidates, their supporters, scrutineers and elections officials to refrain from violence and allow the process to complete in an orderly and peaceful manner. Intending candidates, this is the time to show leadership and example by not allowing your supports to incite violence and destruction to lives and properties. Don’t wait till you are in Parliament to show leadership. Hindering and abetting violence and mayhem is not a sign of leadership and those involved in such should not consider themselves leaders, at all. We are a democratic country and every citizen has a right to express their freedom without fear and intimidation in choosing their leaders to represent them in Parliament. The power to determine political leaders in this country rests with the people who exercise that during elections. Candidates who have issues with the election process have an avenue to raise their complaints through the court of disputed return and should not disturb or interfere with the election process that is underway,” Grand Chief Sir Bob said.
Meantime the Governor General has also called on the media to refrain from sensationalizing issues when reporting on election related violence.
Grand Chief Sir Bob said, it was unfortunate that a handful of people have taken it upon themselves to instigate violence and cause mayhem while majority of Papua New Guineans throughout the country have had peaceful elections.
“Referring to PNG as a war zone is a misrepresentation as it does not represent the whole country and the majority of peace loving Papua New Guineans who have conducted themselves well in the elections. Media must be mindful when reporting on election related violence as it could paint a bad picture of our country and our people to the international community. Refrain from sensational reporting which can cause unnecessary distress to our people and negative publicity of our country,” Grand Chief Sir Bob said.
The Governor General has today met with Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai, the latter briefing the Governor General on the progress of elections so far.
According to the Electoral Commissioner, eighteen of the 118 electorates have had declarations so far with a 100 more to go as counting progresses.
Mr. Sinai said, the election officials are now working on a 24-hour shift to speed up counting with more results expected in the coming days.
Mr. Sinai has informed the Governor General that this year’s national general elections was delayed from the beginning due to financial constraints, the untimely death of deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil which delayed the elections by a week, logistics and election officials not turning up on time at their designated areas which he says, has slowed the process.
The Electoral Commissioner has recommended to the Governor General an extension of the Return of Writs from 29th July, 2022 to 12th August, 2022.
According to Mr. Sinai, the extension of 14 days will allow for counting to be concluded and for results to be declared in all provincial and open electorates.
Mr. Sinai has cited special circumstances that warrant the extension of the Return of Writs and has assured that the extension is within “the fifth anniversary of the day fixed for the return of writs for the previous general election…The extension of time seeks to avoid a failed election and is also intended to provide time to allow all the writs to be returned accordingly.”
The Governor General has accepted the extension of the Return of Writs to 12th August, 2022 at 4:00pm.
The Governor General said, he accepts that it would be impossible to have all the Writs returned on July 29th, 2022, the proposed date of the Return of Writs, which is on Friday this week.
“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒚 14 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒐 12𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕, 2022 𝒂𝒕 4𝒑𝒎.
The extension will save time and resources and we avoid a failed election which will be costly to if we were to start all over again. We can learn from this year’s national general elections to conduct better national general elections in 2027. The election process should start as early as 2023 next year. The Electoral Commission must get its finances and manpower resources organized and introduce a new system of voting that cuts down on time and resources. Introduce the biometric system or other such similar technology so once a vote is cast it is automatically tallied and stored and declarations can be made precisely and immediately. This way we avoid all the problems we have witnessed in this election – hijacking of boxes, disputes and delays in counting and violence. A number of people have lost their lives from election related violence. It is very unfortunate and should not have happened at all. Let’s prepare now to deliver a better Free and Fair elections in 2027,” Grand Chief Sir Bob said. ”
