PNG elections underway

Transcript ABC 

TONY EASTLEY: Papua New Guinea's general election is off to a rocky start with reports of ballot boxes being destroyed and others being hijacked and stuffed with votes.

The two-week voting period got underway over the weekend in the volatile highlands region but there were delays in setting up polling booths.

PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports.

(Sound of people talking, man shouting)

LIAM FOX: In a muddy field on the outskirts of Tari in Hela province police are trying to contain a crowd of several hundred agitated voters.

Twice they've fired warning shots into the air to keep them under control.

Local journalist Andrew Alphonse is here to cast his own vote. He says people are worried because supporters of one of the candidates are demanding to be given the ballot papers so they can fill them in.

ANDREW ALPHONSE: So people could not vote and then there are other supporters coming in for other candidates and then they are just causing the problem, they are trying to fight.

LIAM FOX: Electoral observers say ballot boxes from at least two polling booths were hijacked and later returned stuffed with votes. Boxes in three locations were destroyed altogether.

They also say they've seen children casting votes and that the use of indelible ink to mark voters has been patchy at best.

All this of course is nothing new when it comes to elections in PNG. The highlands provinces in particular are notorious for electoral fraud and violence.

But the Electoral Commission says it's the most prepared it's ever been and there's a massive police and military presence to provide security.

Andrew Alphonse says it's a joke.

ANDREW ALPHONSE: I've been here, I've seen elections here. The elections this year is not very good, it has been not planned well.

LIAM FOX: Wamu Walu is a returning officer in one of the electorates where some of the ballot boxes were destroyed or hijacked. He says things are going fine.

WAMU WALU: The current progress of the elections is going well. We have just encountered minor problems on the ground.

LIAM FOX: William Bando, the province's administrator, disagrees.

WILLIAM BANDO: In a nutshell I think we have not been prepared really well for this election. The ballot papers arrived late and we had some issues with the area returning officers. I think the electoral commission shoulder some blame for whatever the result that comes out.

LIAM FOX: It's not just cases of fraud that are emerging but also violence.

There is an unconfirmed report that a man was killed in Kelabo during a fight that erupted when a candidate's supporters tried to take control of the polling.

Several houses were burnt down in Kereneba after fighting there. It could be a sign of things to come.

In the past most of the violence has occurred during the counting period and when the results are announced.

This is Liam Fox in Tari reporting for AM.