The head of a Papua New Guinea research institute has major concerns about the printing of ballot papers for the 2022 national elections.
The Electoral Commission released its timeline for the 2022 general elections, with polling set to take place in mid-June.
Polling station in Bulolo District, Papua New Guinea national election 2017. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
The Post Courier reports that "PNG is ready" and the Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai said the poll will be "very competitive."
But PNG Think Tank executive director Samson Komati said the printing of ballot papers needs to be addressed after the "worst elections in the history of the country" in 2017.
Komati said the central government printer had always been responsible for printing the ballot papers.
But it was changed prior to the last elections when the Peter O'Neill government decided to outsource it to an Indonesian company.
"In 2017, an Indonesian company, for the first time in the history of our country, they printed 10 million papers. It was supposed to be done by the central government printing press.
He said the foreign company contracted by the government had no right to print extra ballots, claiming it undermined the 2017 polls.
"We never needed 10 million papers they printed additional which was used and then additional voters were created," he said.
Police and electoral officials call out names of voters to come and vote, Timini, Morobe Province. Photo: RNZI/ Johnny Blades
PNG census again deferred
Papua New Guinea has postponed its census for three years to 2024, meaning the common roll for the 2022 national elections will be based on the 2011 census.
The National Population and Housing Census was to have begun in July 2021 after a three-year period of preparation and previous deferrals.
The National Statistics Office has issued a notification, blaming the latest deferral on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The office said the government's response to PNG's recent surge in Covid cases means the quality of the census would likely be undermined.
PNG's last census was in 2011, which the government in power at the time later admitted was a failure and inaccurate.
Based on the 2011 census figure of a population of 7.25 million, it is thought that PNG's population could be about nine million by now.