Author: Sensible Ambumvillian
| [ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: Sat, Jun 16 2007, 12:35:55pm
This is not a surprising news. That inflation scam and deceit was started by the then sitting member, John Pundari in 1997. He had earlier cheated and went into parliament in 1992 when Cornelius Kakale of Ambum actually won the elections that time.
However, John Pundari bribed counting officials in Wabag at that time after they actually declared Cornelius Kakale as the winner earlier. JP twisted the whole process and brought in 300 more suspiccious votes into the counting room and forced the returning officer to declare him as the winner.
The winning vote of Ambum Kompiam in 1992 was about 3800. Traditionally Ambum Kompiam open seat has been contested by an average of 30 candidates over the election.
What John Pundari did in 1997 was that he blantantly included some false council ward names and polling places around his area. That is only between Yampu to Meraimanda. He then won by a whopping 14,000 (unbelivable indeed)votes just from those votes collected around this small area. The other candidates were not even near that vote. They hovered around the 2000 to less than 4000 votes only.
How the Common Roll was inflated cannot remain a mystery. It was done by the con-artist John Pundari. That remains to this day.
Now he is trying to get back into Parliament using that same scheme. No way JP. The other intelligent candidates (18 altogether)have spoken out against that. They have even taken the Electrol Commissioner and the Returning Officer for Ambum Kompiam Open Electorate to task. That deceitful scheme has been exposed. JP must tell himself that, he is in the wrong books now. There is no way that he will succeed this time around.
Sensible Ambumvillian
______________________________
News Weekend Edition Fri - Sun 15th - 17th June , 2007
http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20070615/frhome.htm
EC uncovers deceit
ELECTORAL Commissioner Andrew Trawen has lashed out at the “culture of deceit” that continued to spew out inflated electoral rolls as the country heads to the general elections.
Speaking to reporters at the Electoral Commission headquarters in Port Moresby yesterday, the election boss said his office had uncovered numerous attempts to inflate the rolls.
“Let me also inform the nation that the Electoral Commission has uncovered numerous attempts to inflate the common roll. The ‘culture of deceit’ to inflate and corrupt the electoral roll, which has been the norm in the past, is still much alive today,” Mr Trawen said. Without pinpointing the offending parties, Mr Trawen said he would not tolerate such behaviour. “As the commissioner, I will not tolerate such deceitful tactics by individuals to sabotage democracy in Papua New Guinea,” he added.
It is understood the Highlands is the region worst affected by inflated electoral rolls, compelling Electoral Commission to do several audits in March to get a realistic figure.
Mr Trawen’s outburst coincides with calls by candidates from Enga and the Western Highlands provinces on the Electoral Commission to fix the electoral roll before the start of polling.
Five candidates from Western Highlands’ Tambul-Nebilyer area and 18 from the Kompiam-Ambum seat have petitioned the commission to fix the problem.
“From information on hand, we realised that the current updated common roll for Kompiam-Ambum electorate is a total contrast with that of the provincial registered eligible voter summary (which was) certified and submitted to the head office for printing,” they said in a petition.
In March, the five Highlands provinces (Southern Highlands, Western Highlands, Enga, Chimbu and Eastern Highlands) recorded blown-out voter registrations ranging from 116 to 132 per cent.
Candidates in the Western Highlands, Enga and Morobe provinces have warned of trouble if the matter was not resolved soon. More election stories on pages 6 and 7.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
] |