Papua New Guinea has recorded a preliminary total of 2,351 candidates at close of nomination Thursday for the 2022 National General Election, Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai announced.
Out of these 2351 candidates recorded nationwide, 86 of them are women, the highest recorded in Morobe Province with a total of 14.
Sinai announced at close of nomination in Port Moresby that there has been a decrease of 1,000 candidates compared to that of 2017, which had 3332 nominees recorded.
He said the PNG Electoral Commission had expected more than 4,000 candidates to nominate but at 4pm when nominations closed only 2,351 had been recorded.
“This is only the preliminary figure from our data updates, this morning and at 4pm today (Thursday),” Sinai said.
“The full official figure will be announced on Monday pending all records from our Returning Officers nationwide.”
Out of these results, 2246 are men candidates that come from the Highlands 821, Mamose 632, Southern 608 and New Guinea Islands 271.
These figures were released just after 4pm by Sinai who said these were preliminary figures and the official count would be released on Monday.
He the Highlands recorded the highest field of candidates (men and women) 821 followed by Mamose 632, Southern 608 and New Guinea Islands 271.
In the Highlands Region, Chimbu topped the list with 218 candidates, only 1 woman, Eastern Highlands Province had the second highest number of candidates with 202 (five woman), Jiwaka 108, Southern Highlands with 74 (three women), Hela 86, and Enga 51.
Only nine of these candidates are woman.
In Mamose, Madang led the nominations with 257 candidates (three women), Morobe followed with had 195 (14 women) candidates, East Sepik 72 (one woman) and West Sepik 108 (four women).
Southern Region also fielded 608 candidates with Western Province leading with 124 (two women), Central had 120 (11 woman), Gulf 93 (seven women), National Capital District 103 (nine women), Northern 84 (five women) and Milne Bay 84 (five women) candidates. For New Guinea Islands, East New Britain had the highest of 80 candidates (four woman), West New Britain 67 (two women), Bougainville 49 (one woman), New Ireland 40 (six women) and Manus 35 (three women).
Sinai said there were no major hiccups but a few from provinces where information was not available due to communication difficulties.
SOURCE: POST COURIER/PACNEWS
