Papua New Guinea’s Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai says he will seek a further extension from the Governor-General for the return of writ for Southern Highlands provincial seat which has faced protracted delays in counting.

He said any discussions and talks of “failing” an election and calling for a supplementary or a byelection was not on his table and would not happen as the costs of running elections had escalated and were expensive.

Sinai said he would be writing to the Governor-General, Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae, today requesting an extension for for Southern Highlands and other remaining electorates that were still being counted.

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The last extension for the return of writs from July 29 to August 12 expired today.

The commissioner called on all Southern Highlanders to cooperate and allow the electoral process to continue without interference and delays to the counting as for the past couple of weeks.

“I am calling on all Southern Highlanders, especially those in Mendi, to observe and respect the rule of law and let the electoral process continue without interruptions,” he said.

Sinai said the commission would be seeking more police reinforcements for Southern Highlands to beef up security on the ground and ensure that counting was completed and the result delivered.

The commissioner expressed concern over a public perception people had about Southern Highlands as a “place of trouble”. He urged local leaders and supporters to put politics aside and think about building and protecting the image of the province.

“The democratic process that we have adopted is not about physical fight, but it is a fight through the ballot papers and whoever scores well during the scrutiny and counting process wins,” he said.

“It’s a game — one has to win and one has to lose. If you are aggrieved by the outcome, you can always seek an intervention of the court.”

Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s Governor-General, Sir Bob Dadae, today accepted Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai’s recommendation to extend the date for the 2022 general election Return of Writs by two weeks.

The new date is August 12.

With three days remaining before the initial gazetted date of July 29, counting for more than half of the seats in the 118-seat Parliament is yet to be completed.

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The Office of the Governor-General issued a statement on the announcement this afternoon after a closed door deliberation.

“It would be impossible to complete all counting by Friday so I accept the extension by 14 days to 12th of August, 2022 at 4pm,” Sir Bob said.

“The extension will save time and resources and we avoid a failed election which will be costly to if we were to start all over again.”

The Electoral Commission has advised counting officials throughout the country to work in 24-hours shifts to complete counting.

Sinai informed the Governor-General of the circumstances that led to the decision which he said were based on:

• Financial constraints;
• The untimely death of Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil which had delayed the elections by a week;
• Logistic problems; and
• Election officials not turning up on time at their designated areas which had slowed the process.

According to Sinai, “special circumstances” warranted the extension of the Return of Writs and he has assured that the extension was within “the fifth anniversary of the day fixed for the return of writs for the previous general election… The extension of time seeks to avoid a failed election and is also intended to provide time to allow all the writs to be returned accordingly.”

The extension now means the initial date for Parliament to sit — August 4 — will now be moved to a later date pending the return of writs.

Republished by arrangement with Inside PNG.