Sunday, 12 February 2017

PNG OPPOSITION LEADER DON POLYE WELCOMES 2017 ELECTION DATES STAYED

PRESS RELEASE: Office of the PNG Opposition Leader.

PORT MORESBY: Opposition Leader Don Polye today (Monday) welcomed the Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato’s unwavering stance on staying the original election dates.

Despite him being recently under the spotlight for a few controversial decisions, regarding the elections, Mr Polye commended him for taking heed of the Opposition’s warning to manage the affairs of the elections ‘independently without any undue influence.’

“Our people would eager to see him continue to discharge his duties independently without fear or favour like this until the Return of Writs on July 24.

“Our alternate government will continue working side by side with the Electoral Commission and other stakeholders to see a fair, free and democratic election delivered this year,” said Mr Polye.

He said now that Gamato had indicated that the Common Roll update would resume, he should be cautious of ‘sitting MPs in the government plotting to inflate their supporters’ names and (or) decrease their opponents’’ in the roll.

Polye has assured the people that their alternate government would continue to scrutinize the electoral processes to avoid electoral fraud.

Meanwhile, Polye said the Opposition was ready to challenge the nomination fee increase from K1000 to K10,000 in the Supreme Court.

He said the Constitutional amendment bill had gone through only the first reading with 75-14 votes in its favour in the last Parliament session.

The Opposition Leader is calling on the people to mount pressure on their parliamentarians to shift their plan to vote against it, citing the bill is ‘draconian, and a direct abuse of human rights.’

Polye said they should use their ‘moral conscience’ to vote against it.

APPROVED FOR RELEASE
……………………………….
Don POMB Polye, CMG, BE (Civil), MBA, MIEPNG (Reg), MP


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