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There have been rowdy scenes in a Papua New Guinean town after people thought ballot boxes for the general election were being taken away. The completed ballot papers for the highland province of Hela are being stored in shipping containers in the provincial capital Tari. Locals say a rumour spread around town early this morning that they were going to be moved to Mt Hagen 150 kilometres away and counted there. Tari resident Eddie Yuwi says some angry candidates and their supporters responded by firing guns into the air and blocking roads with logs and heavy machinery. "All the machines were lined up on the road to block off the boxes if any security personnel were about to carry the boxes to Mt Hagen." Mr Yuwi says the situation has since calmed and the roads have been reopened. PNG police arrest ballot 'hijackers Police in Papua New Guinea say they have arrested a gang posing as policemen to hijack ballot boxes during the country's general election. Police say four

There have been rowdy scenes in a Papua New Guinean town after people thought ballot boxes for the general election were being taken away. The completed ballot papers for the highland province of Hela are being stored in shipping containers in the provincial capital Tari. Locals say a rumour spread around town early this morning that they were going to be moved to Mt Hagen 150 kilometres away and counted there. Tari resident Eddie Yuwi says some angry candidates and their supporters responded by firing guns into the air and blocking roads with logs and heavy machinery. "All the machines were lined up on the road to block off the boxes if any security personnel were about to carry the boxes to Mt Hagen." Mr Yuwi says the situation has since calmed and the roads have been reopened. PNG police arrest ballot 'hijackers Police in Papua New Guinea say they have arrested a gang posing as policemen to hijack ballot boxes during the country's general election. Police say four

On the Kokoda Track, about the point where General Tomitaro Horii's invasion force was halted in September 1942 in sight of the Coral Sea, a mobile phone will now pick up the signal from the Port Moresby network. As Papua New Guinea starts voting today in its national elections, after much worry about whether they would be held within the constitutional timeframe or even run in a meaningful way, many political players and analysts are watching to see how the mobile phone is changing the game. The last elections took place in 2007, the same year the government deregulated telecommunications and removed the monopoly of the state telecom agency. Two mobile phone companies, Digicel and BeMobile, jumped into the market, and their networks have since expanded to cover 75 per cent of the nearly 7 million population. Advertisement: Story continues below One study a year ago put mobile phone penetration at 48 per cent of the population. Sarah Logan, at the Australian National University, ci

On the Kokoda Track, about the point where General Tomitaro Horii's invasion force was halted in September 1942 in sight of the Coral Sea, a mobile phone will now pick up the signal from the Port Moresby network. As Papua New Guinea starts voting today in its national elections, after much worry about whether they would be held within the constitutional timeframe or even run in a meaningful way, many political players and analysts are watching to see how the mobile phone is changing the game. The last elections took place in 2007, the same year the government deregulated telecommunications and removed the monopoly of the state telecom agency. Two mobile phone companies, Digicel and BeMobile, jumped into the market, and their networks have since expanded to cover 75 per cent of the nearly 7 million population. Advertisement: Story continues below One study a year ago put mobile phone penetration at 48 per cent of the population. Sarah Logan, at the Australian National University,

By HENRY LUBANG MONEY has always been a part of politics – but it should not be a determining factor in the outcome of elections. Hence, in campaign financing, it is a critical or an important precept of elections that must not be taken lightly, especially in Papua New Guinea. In this article, we look at the disparity between incumbent members of parliament and non-incumbent candidates, in essence affects the campaigning process. Among a number of plausible reasons, the incumbent MPs have the advantage of already having access to government development funds at their disposal. This then places them ahead of the competitors when it comes to voter appeal and thus putting non-incumbents in a less desirable position. By the nature of a democracy like ours, incumbent MPs are given access to resources and they are well placed to capitalise on the decision-making processes of the government machinery compared to challengers. If MPs are able to use their political influence to remain in power

By HENRY LUBANG MONEY has always been a part of politics – but it should not be a determining factor in the outcome of elections. Hence, in campaign financing, it is a critical or an important precept of elections that must not be taken lightly, especially in Papua New Guinea. In this article, we look at the disparity between incumbent members of parliament and non-incumbent candidates, in essence affects the campaigning process. Among a number of plausible reasons, the incumbent MPs have the advantage of already having access to government development funds at their disposal. This then places them ahead of the competitors when it comes to voter appeal and thus putting non-incumbents in a less desirable position. By the nature of a democracy like ours, incumbent MPs are given access to resources and they are well placed to capitalise on the decision-making processes of the government machinery compared to challengers. If MPs are able to use their political influence to rema

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