Candidate among suspects charged in by-election ballot box hijack

A candidate is among 12 people arrested and charged over the alleged hijacking of a ballot box and ballot papers during the Usino-Bundi by-election.

This brings to two the number of candidates detained in relation with election-related violence. Last Wednesday, candidate Manu Kuna was arrested for allegedly attacking another contestant’s vehicle.

Madang Provincial Police Commander Acting Superintendent Robert Baim confirmed the second candidate as independent contestant Mathew Apele Kanuwe, who was arrested alongside 11 others over the weekend.

All suspects have been denied bail and face six charges each; three criminal [Kidnapping for Ransom, Deprivation of Liberty, and Undue Influence] and three under the Organic Law on National and Local Level Government Elections [Unlawfully Taking and Opening a Ballot Box and Threatening a Presiding Officer].

The suspects appeared before Senior Provincial Magistrate Fridolin Kambibel today and have been remanded at Beon Correctional Institution pending their next court appearance next month.

Police said the offences occurred between July 24 and 26 across Madang, Eastern Highlands, and Morobe provinces.

Polling Team No.6 was reportedly misled by a passenger on a hired helicopter and redirected to Kempeni Village, where armed men allegedly kidnapped them. The presiding officer was forced to sign 1,700 blank ballot papers, which were stuffed into a ballot box.

The polling officials escaped the next morning and alerted police. A rescue team from Lae later freed the officials, arrested the suspects, and recovered the ballot box and election materials from a house in Watarais.