Smooth Pollings for Lae and Madang

Polling on the ground for two the centres went smoothly. Most were in an orderly manner with little security issues. We visited the three electorates in the Morobe Provinces which include Lae Open, Nawae Open and Huon Gulf electorates respectively before heading for Madang Province. By the time we arrived most of Madang electorate had polled. Sumkar on the outskirts of Madang was our next stop. From the surveyed questioned asked in regards to political parties, nearly 90% did not support a particular party. The sentiment received was that people tend to go with the candidate based on his merit, status or influence on the community or society. When asked about the women's opinion the general answer that women gave was that they voted according to the husbands support. Most people that went to vote found that they didn't have their names on the roll and were denied the right to vote. Overall the atmosphere was calm and collective in most polling stations. For the latest results on the national general elections 2012, click here or visit www.ippcc.gov.pg

Madang Morobe Highway

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The highway from Morobe to Madang is pretty much good though bumpy at times. The section in the Usino Bundi electorate is the part that is unsealed. PMV Buses frequent the highway as well as travelers who would rather save some bucks using this mode than on air. Another group of people are the buai buyers who mostly come from the highlands to get their stock. At times they hire the entire bus to transport their valuable green gold back to the highlands.

Observation Mission

Whilst the country went into polling, little did they know that a team from the Registry of Political Parties and Candidates Commission were doing their survey and observation throughout this period. A total of three teams covered the four regions. The observation would give an indication on how parties fair on the LLG level provincial level.The survey also included candidates, women and how the polling was conducted. Our team covered two centres which include Lae and Madang.