PNG Elections : Woman shot dead during Moresby North-East Polling

A woman was shot dead this afternoon, after hours of waiting to vote in the Moresby North-East electorate in the National Capital District.

Reports received by this newsroom, indicate that people waited for hours until around midday when the ballot boxes were brought to Ward 9 of ATS Block Two.

Voters waited since 8 o'clock this morning for ballot boxes to reach them and the crowd turned rowdy when ballot boxes eventually reached them and were brought to another location.

NCD Metropolitan Gideon Ikumu  addresses the community [photo by NBC]

Shots were fired by police, resulting in the death.

NCD Metropolitan Gideon Ikumu was there to address the community while polling came to a stop.

He said "Mipla needim ol man husat i witnesim stret namba plate blong polis kar i kam insait. Em wanem kain kar? Description blong kar. Den polis bai stat bihainim nau."

"Givim nem so that polis bai save husat em witness stap na lukim stret wanem samting kamap. Bicos taim yupla olgeta go nambaut nau, em ba wokim wok blong mipla hat ya. Yu husat man i bin stap long hia na displa samting i kamap, em ol CID blong mi bai sanap lo hia"

"Ol polis man blo wanem kar stret i kam daun na pulim trigger, hamaspla man? Sapos yupla mekim osem, bai yupla helpim polis investigation long painim aut stret wanem samting kamap. Sapos polis man em rong, polis man em rong. Bai mipla arrestim em," Mr. Ikumu said.

Speaking on behalf of the people, a community leader called on them to assist the police in their investigations.

He’s blamed the Electoral Commission for the delay in the delivery of ballot boxes, which resulted in the woman's death.

He said "Everybody insait lo traipla mama blo sun ya, insait lo ATS, ol sanap na ol laik vote ya. They were waiting since 8 and 6 o'clock this morning and the boxes were not delivered here until 12:30pm. So frustration was building." 

"Under the law, we have our constitutional right to cast our votes. But we were deprived. I feel that the Electoral Commission should be solely blamed for this," he said.

NBC News/ PNG Today

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