Glenda Popot of TVWan News reports on the PNG elections campaign trail. Video: TVWan News
By Annette Kora in Mount Hagen
Papua New Guinea’s Highlands region election operation is set to be launched today in Mount Hagen, Western Highlands Province.
Police Commissioner Gari Baki is currently in the province to observe preparations of each of the Highlands provinces leading into the launch.
More than 300 officers from the Highlands region are expected to attend the election security launch. This includes all provincial police commanders of the region and their police station commanders.
Baki said a lot of manpower would be based in the Highlands region considering that the region posed a lot more challenges than other main centres in the country.
He said directives had been followed so far with strict guidelines in place to make sure the 2017 election runs smoothly, safely and fairly.
It is anticipated that the launch of the security operations is expected to bring in a lot of local attention and the commissioner is urging the general public of Western Highlands to respect and understand the due process of the election
“We need the general public to work together with police so we produce a safe, free and fair election in the Highlands region and the same goes for the rest of Papua New Guinea,” Baki said.
The two-week Papua New Guinea general election is between June 24 and July 8.
