TheInter-Departmental Electoral Committee has endorsedthe decision made by Electoral Commissioner, Andrew Trawen, to fail election inthe 19 LLGs in six Highlands provinces.
The committee gave its blessing at its meetings aPNGEC Headquarters in Port Moresby on Thursday.
Meantime, Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen clariflied that Section 97 ofthe ‘Organic Law on National and Local-level Government Elections’ on cancelation or failure of elections is very clear and his decision is withinthe law and is not an abuse of power and authority.
He said if no action was taken against chronic illegal election practices during our electionsthenthe democratic election process in PNG is ‘outthe window’ and we can sit back, relax and pretend that our elections are good.
Trawen sain PNG C asthe election management body oPNG hasthe constitutional duty and responsibility to ensurethe democratic processes and procedures in electing our lLeaders– be it national or LLG elections – are done in a fair playing field.
Onthe legality of his decision to failthe elections inthe Highlands,the Electoral Commissioner explained: “The same provisions ofthe Organic Law on National and Local-level Government Elections that apply for the national elections are also applicable inthe LLG elections and my decision is in order.”
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