THERE is some merit in the call upon the PNG Electoral Commission by candidate Norman Fernandez to keep the people guessing until the last possible moment before naming the election manager or the returning officers or assistant returning officers.
These election officers, normally senior and competent public servants in most instances, are often exposed to tremendous pressure from candidates and their money bag carriers.
Often their lives are threatened. As often they succumb to the lure of big money and corrupt the elections in the process.
But the corruption starts long before the election managers are appointed. It starts with the officers who are chosen to conduct common roll updates.
The alert candidate will get at the people conducting the common roll update with money to ensure the names of people in his area are inflated and those in areas of opposing candidates are deflated.
He will have to follow his handy work all the way to the printing of the rolls to ensure that his false figures are confirmed in the common roll.
Then he will get at the senior election officials to ensure that the distribution of ballot papers is done selectively.
This is a crucial area where there is a lot of corrupt activity taking place.
Even in an area where there are a high number of voters if there are not enough ballot papers, there is really nothing much one can do about it. So the ballot paper distribution needs very close scrutiny and security.
Since security forces are important in this area the security personnel themselves are under scrutiny because this is where they can face pressure and can often succumb to it.
During polling is another time to be on guard.
This is when intimidation occurs or where ballot boxes are hijacked or destroyed.
Most often, the corruption is in a village selecting a number of its youth to stand guard and feed election officials food or women and let the youths mark all the ballot papers.
Nobody else ventures near the polling booth. This is widespread in most village settings.
Transportation of ballot boxes carrying votes and their storage is another area where corrupt practices do set in.
Many a ballot box has ended up in out of the way places. In other instances boxes marked in some secluded spot have been smuggled into storage areas and boxes carrying real votes removed.
The counting room provides the greatest opportunity for corrupt practices as well and here is an area where many an honest candidate has been thrown out and the choice of corrupt election officials have been chosen.
This can be done with the close knowledge of security personnel.
So the election process is fraught with opportunities for corruption.
It is not only in the selection of officials although it is an important factor.
Right up and down the election system the opportunity for corruption exists and is most often exploited.
Candidate Fernandes is right that the stakes are higher now and there are a lot more people with bigger bags of money running around.
The biggest disappointment is why everybody from the law enforcing offices down to the Electoral Commission and the Ombudsman Commission will allow such blatant disregard for the law?
Why are election officials not disqualifying people who do not have the residential qualifications to run for elections?
Why has there been such blatant early campaigns through posters and public rallies?
Why are they allowing candidates to go around dishing money and food in such open places?
Corruption is no longer secret. It is out in the open and, most of all, it is tolerated by all.




Source: The National