Electoral Commission Press Release Sunday 6th July 2003.

[aussie]

THE new Limited Preferential Voting, LPV, for National Parliament Elections, is easy to understand, says election boss Mr Andrew Trawen.

Mr Trawen says the Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, was right when he told Parliament last month that critics are wrong to claim that lawful voters and the rest of the country will not understand LPV.

The people must not be treated like idiots, says Mr Trawen.

He says Papua New Guinea must not limit itself with the fear of change and failure.

That is negative thinking, says Mr Trawen, the acting Electoral Commissioner.

He was speaking at the election headquarters in Port Moresby today (Sunday July 6) while officially announcing the formation of Electoral Commission’s National Media LPV Community Awareness Subcommittee.

The subcommittee was set up in Port Moresby on Friday (July 4) for the news media to help the Electoral Commission explain the LPV to the nation for people including voters to understand it.

Mr Trawen says LPV counting demonstrations by the Electoral Commission in Chimbu Province and Port Moresby confirm that the LPV is easy to understand.

Chimbu will be the first province to use the new LPV in its September-November by-election this year to elect a new Governor to replace Father Louis Ambane who died of liver cancer in May.

Confirmed dates for the by-election will be announced when voters and election officials of the province confirm that they understand the LPV, says Mr Trawen.

He says election preparations are going ahead and the first LPV community awareness workshop outside of Port Moresby was held in Chimbu Province last Tuesday (July 1).

Representatives of churches, women’s groups, youths, NBC Radio Chimbu, police and the provincial administration including district officers attended the workshop.

They understood the LPV after a counting demonstration by Electoral Commission information officer Ms Alice Lupalau, community awareness officer Mrs Josepha Suvulo and Australian Electoral Commission LPV community awareness adviser Mr Bill Chilvers, says Mr Trawen.

More LPV community awareness workshops are being organised to get Chimbu Province ready for its by-election, says Mr Trawen.

A community awareness subcommittee has been set up in the province to help the Electoral Commission with this, says Mr Trawen.

Those who attended two separate LPV counting demonstrations in Port Moresby for marketing and advertising representatives and news media journalists also understood the LPV with no problem, says Mr Trawen.


ENDS


Andrew Trawen
Acting Electoral Commissioner

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