Democratic elections producing chaos in #PNG

Governor General Sir Micheal Ogio votes in Port Moresby - pic by Bigg Patt

There are already emerging reports of electoral fraud throughout Papua New Guinea, including in its capital Port Moresby.

Chairman of Transparency International, Lawrence Stephens witnessed double voting at a polling station in Port Moresby. At Gordon's, polling had to be suspended yesterday as mobs of vermin from nearby squatter settlements tried to double vote at a polling station that wasn't intended for them.

City residents in Port Moresby have also warned of chaos at Gerehu today. Double voters from other parts of the city are expected to flock there today.

Reports from Hela Province indicate that all polling has been completed. Around 6 ballot boxes containing 7000 votes, have been destroyed. The remainder are locked in a container at Tari Police station. The situation is said to be tense but then again, that's perfectly normal up at Tari.

The most significant allegations of electoral fraud are emerging from Vanimo-Green electorate where the Returning Officer is alleged to have received a vehicle from an associate of the sitting MP, Belden Namah. However it plays out, should Mr Namah win and be later unseated in the Court of Disputed Returns, will he be willing to accept the Court's Ruling?

Westerners trying to understand why democracy isn't functioning in Papua New Guinea, should read BBC Foreign Corespondent, Humphrey Hawksley's book, Democracy Kills. In it he explains why your western prescriptions don't work. Authoritarian China has taken more people out of Poverty than Democratic India and Socialist Cuba has been doing way better even under US sanctions than democratic Haiti.