17 Feb 2010

Bougainville effort to improve electoral rolls nearly completed

3:02 pm on 17 February 2010

The chief administrator for Papua New Guinea's autonomous province of Bougainville says work to update the common roll should be complete by the end of March.

Raymond Masono says for the past two months election officials have been updating the roll to ensure only eligible voters are listed ahead of the second ABG elections in May.

Mr Masono says in the past there have been problems with people turning up to vote only to find their names were not on the roll.

The province's roll has also been plagued by the presence of ghost names which have allowed ineligible voters to take part in polls.

Mr Masono says the updated roll is expected to be finalised by March the 26th, with help from the Council of Elders.

"It's basically going from house to house and recording the names of the persons who are living in that house and from those lists we identify whether that person is of voting age or not and those who have reached the age of eighteen will have their names registered on the common roll."

Raymond Masono.