October 15, 2026
Palikir, Pohnpei – Senator Victor Gouland has demanded a halt to work on Chuuk’s election database, alleging insufficient transparency and political bias ahead of the March 2027 congressional election. National Election Director Ausen T. Lambert rejected the allegations, describing an effort to improve election equipment and resolve problems with an aging voter registration system.
The dispute is set out in Gouland’s October 2 letter to Lambert and the director’s October 6 response, which includes a technical activities report and an advance email from Mendez to Chuuk’s national election commissioner.
Gouland wrote that he and others in Chuuk had met a man identified as “Juan,” who said he was assigned by the National Election Office to update voter master lists and other election information.
The senator argued that work involving election data required public notice and stronger oversight. He asked Lambert to stop the database update, provide secured copies of existing voter lists to opposing candidates and appropriate oversight agencies, and allow representatives of national candidates to observe the work before it continued.
Lambert identified the consultant as Mendez of Computer Networks International, whom he said has provided computer support to the election office since the original registration system was donated by the Australian Electoral Commission in 2000. He also disputed the reported encounter, saying Mendez had told him he had never met or spoken with Gouland.
Mendez’s attached technical report describes establishing a local office network, connecting five computers, repairing and upgrading two computers, configuring shared printing, installing a staff attendance device and providing battery backup protection.
His September 21 email notifying Chuuk National Election Commissioner Frita Jerry Irons of the planned visit also listed printer and network work, an attendance system, voter identification equipment and other technical needs. Neither the email nor the activities report describes Mendez adding or deleting voters or correcting their registration records.
Lambert’s covering letter discusses both the technical visit and a broader transition to replacement voter registration software. He said the old system had become obsolete and developed problems when registered-voter information was exchanged between national and state election offices, sometimes creating duplicate names.
According to Lambert, two Australian Electoral Commission specialists visited in November 2024, trained election personnel and helped them manually eliminate duplicate entries before the March 2025 congressional election.
The specialists returned in July 2025 to install the replacement system, GVRS Hybrid, and provide further training, he wrote.
Some voter records did not automatically transfer from the old system into the replacement. Lambert said election personnel have been comparing printed lists from both systems and manually entering registered voters missing from the new database.
He said the other three states had completed that work and that his office was helping Chuuk finish before the March 2, 2027 congressional election.
The Australian Electoral Commission’s 2024–25 annual report confirms that GVRS Hybrid was released in June 2025. It describes duplicate detection, improved security and the ability to operate without an internet connection among its features. That provides background on the software, but does not independently establish how individual voter records have been handled in Chuuk.
Gouland’s concerns extended beyond the technical assignment. He accused the National Election Office of supporting the President’s electoral interests and cited the disqualification of prospective candidates on recommendations from the Attorney General. His letter did not name those candidates or include records of the decisions.
Gouland also asserted that proceeding without his requested safeguards would make the incumbent President automatically ineligible for the March 2027 election on grounds of “election tampering and fraud”. The letter did not cite a legal provision or ruling supporting that assertion.
Lambert denied political interference.
“There has not been a single point in time when the President commanded me to do anything at all,” he wrote.
He said he performed his duties independently according to law and sometimes sought legal assistance from the Department of Justice.
The President was traveling and was unavailable for comment by the time the documents came to the newspaper’s attention.
Lambert offered to provide Gouland with printouts from both registration systems after the update was completed, saying the comparison would demonstrate his office’s efforts to protect the integrity of the election process.
That offer differed from Gouland’s request for secured copies before further work proceeded. Lambert’s response did not expressly agree to suspend the work or provide candidate representatives with an opportunity to observe it.
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