Police receive 13 cases relating to SIEC’s current public inquiry

A total of 13 incidents relating to the current Public Inquiry in Solomon Islands towards the 2019 National General Elections have reached the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force as of this morning.

According to Police Commissioner Matthew Varley, Police have already dealt with all thirteen cases so far.

At his weekly media conference today, Commissioner Varley said the incidents relate to various aspects of the inquiry process.

“And those relate to incidents involving some sort of dispute or disruption or disagreement about various aspects of the inquiry process.

“Those cases have occurred I should say across two major parts of the country really, thirteen cases; fives case we’ve been dealing with in Western Province, six case here in Honiara and one case each in Malaita and Central Islands”.

He added, most of those cases have been concluded.

“Most of those cases have been dealt with and have been concluded successfully through negotiations and meditations through Police work and involvement of Electoral Commission officials. Most of those cases have been due to misunderstandings, disagreements or protests around the process of inquiries and objection hearings.

“In fact some cases have been simply procedural, disputing parties have raised protests or arguments in relation to the way in which inquiries were conducted or that panels were convened”.

SIBC Online understands, the Electoral office has been conducting public awareness programs via the National Broadcaster on electoral procedures and processes prior to the Public Inquiries.

By: Rickson Bau