Transcript
The first few days of polling saw delays in regions like the Highlands where objections flooded in over wild discrepancies in the latest version of the electoral roll.
Then as the national capital went to its day of polling on Tuesday, Electoral Commissioner, Patalias Gamato, announced polling was being deferred to Friday, throwing confusion among voters in Port Moresby.
That same morning three electoral officials were detained for police questioning after they were found carrying marked ballot papers, suspicious documents and in one case US$57,000 in cash.
Mr Gamato said the money was meant to be payment for polling officials in the district.
Unpaid allowances was the reason the Commission gave earlier for deferring polling in the National Capital District
"Because he was carrying some cash with him to try and sort out the payments for the camping allowances. So police searched his vehicle and picked up him with a big sum of money. I'm aware of that, and we have tried to make payments for camping allowances."
A group of candidates from the capital presented a petition to Mr Gamato urging him to stand down due to what they called his incompetence and for bringing the election process into disrepute.
One of these candidates, Jamie Maxtone-Graham says the misconduct of the election officers, and persistent problems around ballot papers and the roll, are symptomatic of a system that is corrupt at its core.
"The entire system of government is riddled with corruption. We have systematic and endemic corruption from the Prime minister's office, to the ministers’ offices to the heads of departments, to the CEOs of state-owned enterprise, everybody is engaged in corruption. We just need to look at people in authorities making decisions of where to spend money to see that they give contracts to their own family, or friends, or cronies. This is common."
Meanwhile, in PNG's second biggest city Lae, ballot papers were burnt at a polling booth on the University of Technology campus.
A group of voters, mainly students, set fire to the papers after only 1500 ballot papers were provided for the polling area's voting population understood to be towards 5000.
Elsewhere in Lae, at Omili, polling was brought to a halt for over an hour when a crowd of voters became disorderly, prompting police to open fire to disperse them.
Many young voters, including university students like Eddie, at Unitech in Lae, voice disgust at the well-established voter bribery system of PNG elections.
He says increasingly people don't want to continue with dishonest political leadership.
"(Translated:) We must bring in Christian leaders to form government. Because currently we are facing an economic crisis so there is a need for honest leadership."
The drive to end corruption is what has brought PNG's former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta, out of political retirement to stand for the Moresby Northwest seat.
Sir Mekere says the 2017 election is the most chaotic election in PNG's history and is so by design.
He says what is happening in this election is a poor indictment on the major Australia-funded programme to assist PNG cleanse and update the common roll, and help it prepare the elections.
"I believe Australian officials have been here the last few years planning the conduct of this election and they obviously have failed, given what's happening now."
Sir Mekere claims that the election is being rigged by officials handpicked by the People's National Congress government.
He says the PNC knows it would not return to power if this was a clean election, and everyone's vote counted.
The Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has slammed Sir Mekere and other opponents on their claims, saying they lack evidence.
However, he was compelled to issue a statement this week saying election officials found to be manipulating the process would face the full brunt of the law.
Two of the election officials who were taken in by police have since been replaced in their roles.
However Mr Gamato has had to fend off disquiet about the central influence in the elections of the chief secretary to government, Isaac Lupari.
The Commissioner said he didn’t see anything wrong with this close ally of the prime minister being chair of the election steering committee, and denied that Mr Lupari and not him was in charge.
"His role as chief secretary (is) to mobilise all of government, and government secretaries, secretaries of departments, heads of agencies, to support me as Electoral Commissioner to help in the conduct of the election."
Mr Gamato is struggling to contain a widening perception in PNG that halfway through polling this election is destined to be a failure.
As the National Capital District finally went to the polls on Friday, more voters have inevitably found their names weren't on the roll at the polling place.
It's clear there are many people who have missed out on voting around the country, but PNG's electoral act says problems with the rolls cannot be a basis for a petition or appeal.
One returning officer in the capital was said to have told voters whose names weren't on the roll to vote anyway.
