Voting to open in PNG's trouble spots
Voting to open in PNG's trouble spots
PORT MORESBY (AFP): Security forces steeled themselves for the start of voting today in Papua New Guinea's trouble spots after the two-week national ballot had a low-key and peaceful start at the weekend.
"There have been no major incidents and we hope it stays like that," Central province regional police commander Fred Sheekiot said yesterday.
"Should anything arise, there are enough policemen on the ground to handle it," he told AFP.
Security forces have been on high alert in the run-up to the election, which comes three months after a political crisis that saw looting and riots in the capital and angry demonstrations outside parliament.
Accompanied by a huge security presence, polling teams will set up today in the capital Port Moresby, the volatile Western Highlands region and the rebel stronghold of South Bougainville.
About 500 police will guard polling booths in this southwestern Pacific nation's capital, where police chief Sam Inguba has reportedly warned criminals are holding "substantial" amounts of illegal guns and ammunition.
Despite the civil war that has raged on Bougainville for nine years, an Electoral Commission spokesman said yesterday that voting would go ahead there, defying calls from the Bougainville Revolutionary Army for a boycott.
The ballot is to be held in government "care centers", set up to house villagers displaced by the fighting which began nine years ago over royalties from the giant Panguna copper mine.
When Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan came to power he vowed to end the civil war, but his decision to hire British-based mercenary group Sandline International to do the job nearly cost him his leadership.
After a week of chaos in Port Moresby, he was forced to stand aside while an official inquiry investigated the deal, subsequently clearing him of any wrongdoing.
In the rugged Highlands, about 1,000 police and 450 soldiers have been deployed to prevent a repeat of violence which has occurred there in past elections.
About 500 police and soldiers marched through the regional capital of Mount Hagan Friday in a show of force designed to deter troublemakers and inspire voter confidence.
Voting began peacefully Saturday with nearly 60 polling teams operating mobile polling booths in Central province, which covers a thin strip along the nation's south coast surrounding Port Moresby.
"It's been a quiet start," said presiding officer Tabu Vaira, whose team had set up underneath a mango tree in a settlement nestled in the mountains that ring Port Moresby.
He said he had no security concerns, and that his biggest problem had been turning away voters whose names did not appear on the electoral roll.