Organisers put in place new voting plan

By a Special Correspondent
Election security has emerged as the single most worrying issue for the 2007 Papua New Guinea general elections.

More than 2000 police, assisted by elements of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, will ensure the elections are conducted smoothly. But the concern still remains.

Police Commissioner, Gari Baki says the police will be out in full force to enforce the law and ensure elections are conducted smoothly.

Baki has also called on politicians and their supporters holding on to firearms to surrender them to police and take the lead in ensuring free, fair and trouble-free elections.

Many PNG politicians have licensed firearms, mostly pistols. But, it is also said that their supporters also carry firearms which are not licensed.

Most of them have been smuggled into the country from Australia through the Torres Strait and the Indonesian province of Papua.

Baki’s call was made specifically for politicians in the Highlands region where most of the illegal firearms said to be found.

As a result of fears that illegal guns are most likely to be used to intimidate voters or hijack ballot boxes and ballot papers from election officials, Baki said the police will not tolerate anyone who think they can carry out illegal activities to undermine the elections.

Police security operations mean the elections will be divided into two parts—one for the Highlands region and the other for the rest of the country.

POLLING DETAILS: Polling in the five Highlands provinces of Southern Highlands, Western Highlands, Enga, Chimbu and  Eastern Highlands will be conducted province by province to ensure full concentration of security.
Polling in the coastal regions of the country—Momase, Islands and Southern regions will be conducted together.
Polling for the Highlands region will start in the resource-rich Southern Highlands Province before moving to other Highlands provinces.

But, the Southern Highlands province also faces another major problem. Close to the rich gas deposit is the region known as Hela.

For many years, the Hela people have lobbied for the government and parliament to grant them their own province.

At the moment they’re part of the Southern Highlands Province. Last year, the Somare Government said it supported a separate province for Hela.

But this has yet to happen—and tension is building up with the leaders and people threatening to boycott the general elections.

In the 2002 general elections, polling in five Open electorates and the Regional Southern Highlands seat were declared “failed” by the Electoral Commissioner due to widespread violence which rendered the conduct of free and fair elections impossible.

The Electoral Commissioner then conducted supplementary elections after the rest of the country had elected their representatives for the National Parliament.

Southern Highlands Province has never experienced any relative peace for a long time.

Violence in one form or another has always marred the administration of the province.

Strong tribal links have affected senior appointments to the Southern Highlands administration making things difficult for senior bureaucrats to run the affairs of the province with ease.

Southern Highlands Governor Hami Yawari went to the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the state of emergency and won the case.

Since his return to the provincial capital Mendi, another major crisis has developed with him and the national government both trying to install their own candidates for the powerful position of administrator.

The crisis has ended up again in court and tension over it has spilled into tribal lines. It is most likely to have an adverse effect on the general elections in the province.

A state of emergency declared by the government and endorsed by the national parliament in an effort to put a stop to the widespread misuse of public funds and build-up of illegal firearms has not achieved all its objectives.

A PNG parliamentary committee recently suggested that elections be deferred until police bring the problem of illegal guns under control.

Soon after that suggestion was made, the government appointed a ministerial committee with a K5 million budget to find out if the nation was really prepared for the elections in June. It was a move condemned by all sections of the community.

The security meeting of police and electoral commission officials finalised plans for security operations in order for the elections to be conducted on schedule.

The electoral commissioner of PNG is a constitutional office holder who is not subject to direction by the executive government.

He has already advised the Governor-General of the dates for the 2007 general elections and as things stand at present, elections are proceeding according to schedule.

According to the schedule, polling begins June 30 and goes on for 11 days. Polling ends July 10 and counting begins.