Electoral Act gazetted

Chief Electoral Officer Mose Saitala.

The new Electoral Act now forms part of the law of Solomon Islands after it was gazetted yesterday.

Chief Electoral Officer Mose Saitala confirmed in a media conference today.

Mr Saitala said the new law would deal with offences and election-related matters before and after it was enacted.

He says, now that the voter registration continues, section 113 of the Act needs special attention because it deals with offences relating to providing misleading information during registration.

The Chief Electoral Officer explained penalties for breaching section 113 of the Act.

“The penalty is heavy, its $50,000 or 5 years in prison,” he said.

“This why we encourage voters to be careful, and don’t provide false information.”

Meanwhile, a grace period was given to those who register in different constituencies to withdraw their names from any registration center.

Mr Saitala said the grace period was effective until September 27.

“If you have deceitfully or falsely provided information to register, we are giving you a grace period,” he said.

“I know we haven’t gone publicly to educate the voters on the provisions of the act, this is because we don’t have enough time, because the act just came into parliament just this year.”

By: Fredrick Kusu.

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