Acting Prime Minister John Rosso has announced that the National Examination dates for Grades 8, 10 and 12 will remain as it is and the polling date for the Local Level Government elections has been deferred.

“Over the past three days I have convened a series of meetings involving key electoral stakeholders to consider how best to mitigate and respond to citizen concerns about the impact the forthcoming Local-level Government elections may have on students sitting the national exams.” Acting Prime Minister Rosso said.

He explained that premised on the need to safeguard, both the national examinations and the electoral process it was ultimately agreed that the national exam schedule would remain unchanged and that polling for the LLG elections should be deferred until 25 October 2025.

Accordingly, the Government has decided that:

      Grade 10 Examinations will be held from 6th – 10th October

      Grade 12 Examinations will be held from 13th – 17th October

      Grade 8 Examinations will be held from 20th – 24th October

To ensure that both events proceed smoothly and without interruption, the polling for the LLG Elections will now commence on 25th October2025.

“The Electoral Commissioner will officially announce the revised polling, counting, and return of writs dates in due course.

“This decision was not made lightly. However, it reflects our Government’s commitment to safeguarding the education of our children while also fulfilling the important constitutional requirement of conducting LLG elections.” Rosso added.

The Acting Prime Minister said, a huge amount of work has gone into preparing for these elections, and he has been assured that the Electoral Commission is ready to proceed.

However, the Government is of the view that the LLG elections and national examinations are both important events for the country, and does not wish to jeopardise the educational development of our children.

“I acknowledge the operational challenges this presents for the PNGEC given their advanced state of readiness.

The Electoral Commissioner has considered citizen and government concerns, and has graciously agreed to exercise his constitutional powers to delay the commencement of polling in the interests of our future generations and to prevent disturbance of the national exams. I commend him for this.” Rosso explained.

He said the Government acknowledges the legal advice it has received from the State Solicitor and Secretary, Department of Justice and Attorney General and that a technical team reporting directly to the Chief Secretary is currently working through the issues raised therein.

Hon. John Rosso, DPS, MP

Acting Prime Minister