No political bribes, PNG police told

One of Papua New Guinea's most senior policemen has warned his officers against taking political bribes ahead of the country's June 23 elections.
With just six days to go until the start of the 2012 poll, Assistant Police Commissioner Francis Tokura has told his troops not to be swayed by money being splashed around by candidates.
"Electoral officers and members of the security force, do not accept bribes. Let me repeat, do not accept bribes," Mr Tokura told about 500 officers as they prepared to depart for the Southern Highlands on Saturday.
"This is our country... PNG is our country and this is our election, so let us be responsible.
"Polling candidates, let us set the foundation for a better tomorrow by refusing to threaten or bribe your voters."
The police will spend 24 days based in and around the highland town of Mt Hagen and will provide security during PNG's two week voting period.
Including the PNG Defence Force and police, there are 8000 security personnel being rolled out throughout the country for the election.
Poor infrastructure and PNG's often unforgiving geography means polling officials have had to rely heavily on assistance from Australia in the lead up to the poll.
The Australian Defence Force are flying election material and personnel around the country, while the Australian Federal Police have funded and installed a $2.5 million nationwide communications network for PNG police.
Mr Tokura says his officers are prepared to handle the election.
"This is not the first time we have engaged in national elections," he said.
"I am very confident we will rise to the occasion."
The 2012 poll will be PNG's eighth since it gained independence from Australia in 1975.
In 2002, six electorates out of nine in the Southern Highlands had their polls declared invalid following widespread violence, intimidation of voters at gunpoint and electoral fraud.
The fraud included the bribing of police and electoral officials, multiple voting and the stuffing of hijacked ballot boxes with ballot papers ready-marked for particular candidates.
The 2002 poll was the most violent in PNG's history with an estimated 100 election-related deaths in the Highlands.
The introduction of Limited Preferential Voting (LPV) system for the 2007 election is widely credited as bolstering peaceful elections.