PNGBLOGS

The two-week voting period got underway over the weekend in the volatile highlands region but there were delays in setting up polling booths. Electoral observers say ballot boxes in at least three locations in Hela province have been destroyed. In at least two locations, polling boxes were hijacked by supporters of particular candidates and held for several hours, before being returned stuffed with completed ballot papers. Observers also say they have seen children casting votes and that the use of indelible ink to mark voters has been patchy at best. Andrew Alphonse, a local journalist from Tari, in Hela province, says it is a joke. "People could not vote and then there are other supporters coming in for other candidates and then they are just causing the problem, they are trying to fight," he told AM. "I've been here, I've seen elections here. The election this year is not very good, it has been not planned well." The electoral commission says it is the mo

The two-week voting period got underway over the weekend in the volatile highlands region but there were delays in setting up polling booths. Electoral observers say ballot boxes in at least three locations in Hela province have been destroyed. In at least two locations, polling boxes were hijacked by supporters of particular candidates and held for several hours, before being returned stuffed with completed ballot papers. Observers also say they have seen children casting votes and that the use of indelible ink to mark voters has been patchy at best. Andrew Alphonse, a local journalist from Tari, in Hela province, says it is a joke. "People could not vote and then there are other supporters coming in for other candidates and then they are just causing the problem, they are trying to fight," he told AM. "I've been here, I've seen elections here. The election this year is not very good, it has been not planned well." The electoral commission says it is the mo

Jame Marabe, on the far left with Don Polye Hela Province was the center of all attention yesterday when polling was extended for another day and will continue today, reports on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter does not paint a good picture to what was a highly anticipated election. It is now become something of a trend when many of the polling areas started very late, some areas started polling at 12:00pm when it should have started at least around 8am. In some cases all people had to do was to wait, and wait they did,  they had to wait for either the polling officials, or the security personnel and a majority had to wait for the ballot papers to turn up. Polling was extended to give time to people who turned up to finish casting their votes, while other provinces reported a normal process. There are reports also that 5 ballot boxes for the Tari Pori electorate were destroyed and over 10 ballot boxes were filled in by bribed/crony policemen and polling officials of James M

Jame Marabe, on the far left with Don Polye Hela Province was the center of all attention yesterday when polling was extended for another day and will continue today, reports on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter does not paint a good picture to what was a highly anticipated election. It is now become something of a trend when many of the polling areas started very late, some areas started polling at 12:00pm when it should have started at least around 8am. In some cases all people had to do was to wait, and wait they did,  they had to wait for either the polling officials, or the security personnel and a majority had to wait for the ballot papers to turn up. Polling was extended to give time to people who turned up to finish casting their votes, while other provinces reported a normal process. There are reports also that 5 ballot boxes for the Tari Pori electorate were destroyed and over 10 ballot boxes were filled in by bribed/crony policemen and polling officials

We are the people of a free nation of blokes, sheilas and the occasional wanker. We come from many lands (although a few too many of us come from New Zealand ), and although we live in the best country in the world, we reserve the right to bitch and moan about it whenever we bloody like. We are One Nation but divided into many States. First, there's Victoria , named after a queen who didn't believe in lesbians. Victoria is the realm of Mossimo turtlenecks, cafe latte, grand final day, and big horse races. Its capital is Melbourne , whose chief marketing pitch is that "it's liveable". At least that's what they think. The rest of us think it is too bloody cold and wet. Next, there's NSW, the realm of pastel shorts, macchiato with sugar, thin books read quickly and millions of dancing queens. Its capital Sydney has more queens than any other city in the world and is proud of it. Its mascots are Bondi lifesavers that pull their Speedos up their cracks to keep

We are the people of a free nation of blokes, sheilas and the occasional wanker. We come from many lands (although a few too many of us come from New Zealand ), and although we live in the best country in the world, we reserve the right to bitch and moan about it whenever we bloody like. We are One Nation but divided into many States. First, there's Victoria , named after a queen who didn't believe in lesbians. Victoria is the realm of Mossimo turtlenecks, cafe latte, grand final day, and big horse races. Its capital is Melbourne , whose chief marketing pitch is that "it's liveable". At least that's what they think. The rest of us think it is too bloody cold and wet. Next, there's NSW, the realm of pastel shorts, macchiato with sugar, thin books read quickly and millions of dancing queens. Its capital Sydney has more queens than any other city in the world and is proud of it. Its mascots are Bondi lifesavers that pull their Speedos up their cracks to keep

PAPUA New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and his deputy, Belden Namah, have instructed their foreign affairs and immigration departments to withdraw the citizenship granted last week to fugitive Indonesian tycoon Joko Tjandra. But Foreign Minister Ano Pala has defended granting the citizenship - providing PNG with another controversy before voting in the five-yearly national election starts tomorrow. Joko, 61, fled from Jakarta by private jet in June 2009, shortly before he was convicted by the Indonesian Supreme Court of fraud, sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and ordered to repay $57 million he had obtained illegally. Since then, Joko has spread his time between Singapore, Malaysia and PNG. The PNG constitution requires new citizens to have lived in the country for eight years, to be of good character, and to speak a local language. Joko is on Interpol's wanted list, and the Indonesian government has told PNG of its concerns on the issue. Mr O'Neill said he