There were incidents of unrest around polling for Papua New Guinea's election in the city of Lae on Thursday.
PNG ballot papers were burnt at the University of Technology polling booth on campus. Photo: Peter Kinjap
Lae's Metropolitan Police chief Anthony Wagambie Jnr confirmed that ballot papers were burnt at the University of Technology polling booth on 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.
Two people were arrested by police in the disorder.
Mr Wagambie said the destruction of ballot papers is an offence and any issues relating to shortage of ballot papers or common roll issues should be addressed by election officials.
But the Lae unrest is the latest in a string of frustrations around the country during the first half of the two-week polling period.
Chief among the problems is the number of voters finding their names have dropped off the roll.
That over 4000 University of Goroka students were left off the electoral roll and were denied the right to vote earlier this week suggests key populations are missing out.
Like University of Goroka students, their counterparts at Unitech were involved in extensive class boycotts and protests last year against the prime minister.
Together with University of PNG students in the capital, they petitioned Peter O'Neill to stand aside to answer to fraud allegations.
Meanwhile, polling is scheduled to take place in Port Moresby today after the Electoral Commission's controversial decision to defer polling in the capital from Tuesday.
The decision was announced on Tuesday after voters had already begun arriving at polling places.
The same day three electoral officials were detained for police questioning after they were found carrying marked ballot papers, suspicious documents and US$57,000 in cash.
The former prime minister sir Mekere Morauta, standing for parliament again in Port Moresby, has called it PNG's most chaotic election ever.
He and other candidates in the capital have called on the Electoral Commission Patalias Gamato to stand down.
Hundreds gather to watch PNG ballot papers burnt at Unitech polling booth. Photo: Peter Kinjap
