2017 ELECTIONS WAS DELIBERATELY SETUP TO FAIL FROM THE START - JAMIE MAXTONE-GRAHAM

by Jamie Maxtone-Graham

PNG 2017 national elections is a game of "high stakes power play" which is unfolding before our eyes, as we experience chaos in the first days of polling......People of PNG need to know who are the master puppeteers pulling the strings of their puppets from behind the scenes and who are these puppets in charge of delivering the 2017 national election.

There are Serious questions on everyone's mind that need to be asked...!

1. Is the whole election process fair and transparent?
Answer : No

Reasons;

a) updating of common roll has taken 5yrs but still remains incomplete and was done in total secrecy up until the last minute, only on polling day the common roll was released to the public, voters were given no opportunity to verify if their names were on the common roll or not, many names have been deleted from the roll, while many names were inflated in certain wards without explanation, all these activities raises suspicions in the voters and candidates minds.

b). Appointment of election officials was never done in a transparent manner. The job of the Electoral commissioner is a highly sensitive constitutional office, a professional recruitment organization should have been engaged to source suitable candidates from both local and abroad, this was never done, instead NEC bulldozed the appointment of Gamato without considering his background experience in running national elections, which now, regrettably, is evidenced by his inexperience...Gamatos appointment has raised doubts and suspicions in the minds of voters and candidates throughout Png.

c). The position of national election steering committee chairman should have been held by a neutral person, perhaps a retired court judge or a career public servant and not Isaac Lupari. Isaac Lupari is a political staff of prime minster Peter Oneill for many years, before being appointed chief secretary to the government. He served as prime ministers chief of staff which is a political position in the prime ministers office. There is now serious conflict of interest and bias in Lupari's role as the national election steering committee chairman. Lupari should have never been appointed to this position. This alone raises serious questions in the minds of voters and candidates.

d). The sudden elevation of Simon Sinai a relatively junior officer, (who happens to come from ialibu Pangia) to the position of deputy Electrol commissioner operations, in charge of the election process and logistics of moving election materials including ballot papers and boxes throughout the nation, raises serious questions in the minds of voters and candidates alike.

e). Nearly all returning officers and assistant returning officers were appointed by Simon Sinai after receiving names from MPs in government. This raises more suspicions in the minds of voters and candidates.

f). Printing of 10million ballot papers in Indonesia for 3 million eligible voters, giving extra 4 million ballot papers for Electrol commission to use, raises more suspicions in the minds of voters and candidates.

g). The secret Arrival of containers containing 10 million ballot papers from Indonesia and kept under tight security at ATS Defence force hanger at jacksons airport, media personal, candidates and scrutineers were denied excess by the military, this raises a lot of suspicions in minds of voters and candidates, especially when the defence for commander also comes from Ialibu Pangia.

h). The general staff of Electrol Comission had no excess to the containers containing ballot papers, the distribution of the ballot papers for the whole nation was done single handed by Simon Sinai with the help of Thomas teine the election manager for simbu, with some outside assistance from private people hired by Simon Sinai. Deputy Electrol commissioner was personally in charge of a task that normally juniors officers handled during previous elections. Such a high ranking officer making several visits to the ATS hanger every day and every night until all ballots were dispatched by the Australian defence aircraft to all the provinces, This seriously raises a lot of questions in the minds of voters and candidates.

i). Precount of ballots. Under election laws, it is a requirement for all returning officers to conduct a precounting of the ballot papers in front of all candidates scrutineers before ballot papers are put into ballot box for a particular polling place before being sent out the next day. No precount was done, ballots were allocated and moved to polling locations in total secrecy,,,,this alone raised a lot of suspicions in the minds of voters and candidates..

2. So Who are these puppeteers and puppets causing stress and anxiety to the people of Papua New Guinea????

a) the king puppeteer is the prime minister Peter Oneill himself and his sidekick puppeteer is Isaac Lupari, the master and his apprentice......the rest are all just puppets of these two, they include ministers, speaker of national parliament, members of parliament in government, heads of department , business associates and cronies,,

b) two biggest puppets in this election are the Electrol commissioner and the police commissioner, and they just do everything that Lupari tells them to do, sadly, they don't realize that the office they hold are constitutional office, separate from the executive government, now they have compromised themselves, which raises more doubts and suspicions in the minds of all voters and candidates throughout Papua New Guinea...