Overview of the PNGEC

The Electoral Commission was established as a corporate government institution by the Constitution on 16 September 1975. As an independent Constitutional office, it is not subject to direction or control by any person or authority. The Electoral Commission is headed by the Electoral Commissioner, appointed by the Head of State (Governor General) on the advice of the Electoral Commission Appointments Committee.

The Organizational Capability of PNG Electoral Commission is to build a level of organizational capability that enables the Electoral Commission to deliver its services efficiently and effectively. Each Branch Strategy is matched with a high level performance indicator. Each year, the Electoral Commission Annual Plan will identify precisely how our key result areas will monitor, measure and report on its contribution to the above broad Corporate Plan KPI’s.

The Election Operations Branch is the main branch of the Commission, to which all other branches are aligned to.  Its main functions are to organize resources and schedule activities to conduct Roll Improvement Program, the National and LLG Elections.  These includes planning, managing and conducting elections, scheduling, logistics and resources at the Headquarters as well as our Provincial Offices. The Operations Branch also conduct the management and delivery of training for election officials, continuous maintenance on the accuracy and integrity of the Electoral Roll; improvement of the Management of the Electoral Roll data systems; and ongoing improvement capturing lessons learned from previous elections.

The Information & Communications Technology Branch’s main objective is to develop and maintain information and communication systems that support all the organizational functions and the Commission’s capacity to conduct free, fair and safe elections.

The Finance Branch’s main objective is to deliver timely and effective financial, and risk management services and policy advice to ensure a high level of accountability and compliance to relevant legislation and regulations.

The Information & Community Awareness Branch’s main objective is to provide timely, relevant and quality education to the public about the electoral processes working in partnership with government, business and community organization.

The Policy Development Branch’s main objective is to support Election Operations to manage and conduct elections by facilitating an organization wide approach to the application and any development of policies in line with relevant Laws and Regulations in Papua New Guinea thus includes legislative and regulatory development/review as well as internal and administrative policy formulation. Another main objective of the branch is also to foster the whole of government approach managing and conducting elections. The Branch also strategize on providing the Electoral Boundaries Commission with the necessary level of administrative support.

The Human Resource Management’s main objective is to ensure that the Electoral Commission has skilled, experienced and committed staff available to deliver high quality services to all internal and external clients. The branch also pays attention to cross-cutting issues which includes, HIV & AIDS, gender and disability policies that are mainstreamed into the Commission’s workplace.

The Audit & Risk Management Branch’s main objective is to provide Electoral Commission with an internal audit function so that branch activities are monitored to comply to all relevant legislation and guidelines and by the use of risk management to offer guidance to the Commission on strategies to improve compliance.