Monday, November 3rd, 2025.
MEDIA STATEMENT.
Police in Central Province have confirmed that the Local Level Government Election in the province is going smoothly, except for an issue that most polling areas have reported: the shortage of ballot papers compared to the population of eligible voters in those areas.
Central Provincial Police Commander acting Superintendent Joseph Salle said his police officers are only assisting when the need arises at the polling places. He stated that so far, three people have been arrested and are detained at Fifteen Mile Police Station for hijacking ballot papers.
He mentioned that the issue leading to the hijacking of the ballot papers was again the limited number of ballot papers compared to the eligible voters there. He said that is something the Electoral Commission needs to look into and resolve.
“I am happy with how the people of Central are behaving during the election, even though eligible voters have raised issues regarding their names not being on the common roll and the shortage of ballot papers. However, they have come to an understanding and proceeded with the voting, which is nearing completion. Most of the ward councilors have been declared, while the other wards are still voting. After all ward councilors are declared, the election officials will continue to count the LLG President votes, Salle Said.
PPC Salle further confirmed that there were no major incidents reported, except for one ward at Hiri Koiari LLG.
He said polling will continue this week and will end when all wards have completed polling.
End.
