Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner

INTRODUCTION:

The 2015 Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) General Elections were organised and implemented by the Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner (OBEC). In previous ABG General Elections (2005 and 2010), the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) had lead responsibility. The 2015 ABG General Elections were therefore an historical achievement for the people of Bougainville with the OBEC taking the leading role in conducting the elections.

FUNCTIONS OF THE OBEC:


The position of Bougainville Electoral Commissioner is established under the Constitution of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. The OBEC is the office that has been established to support this function. Its primary role is to implement the Bougainville Elections Act 2007, including planning and conducting elections in Bougainville and to ensure transparency prevails in all elections held in Bougainville.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE:

The Bougainville Executive Council (BEC) made the decision to establish an electoral commission for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in 2010. This decision was unable to be fully implemented and in 2014 the BEC reached a further decision to establish the OBEC.

Following the BEC’s 2014 directive, the Acting-Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, Mr. George Manu was appointed. One of the first tasks undertaken by the Acting-Electoral Commissioner was to establish an organisational structure for the OBEC. Funding for positions within the OBEC was allocated by the ABG in its 2015 Budget. The OBEC began to increase its staff footprint from around January 2015.

 

ELECTION SCHEDULE for COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS AND ATOLLS CONSTITUENCY BY-ELECTION 

2021 COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS 

Enrolment: 12 August to 08 November 2021 

Public Notice: 23 September 2021 

Nominations: 28 September to 02 October 2021 

Notice of Polling: 25 October 2021 

Polling & Counting: 22 November 2021 

Provisional Results: 24 November 2021 

Final Declarations: 24 January 2022 

ATOLLS CONSTITUENCY BY-ELECTION 

Enrolment: 12 to 23 August 2021 

Issue of Writ: 23 August 2021 

Nominations: 23 to 29 August 2021 

Polling Open: 22 November 2021 

Polling Close: 24 November 2021 

Counting: 27 Novmber 2021 

Return of Writ: 3 December 2021