PROVISIONAL LISTS NOW DISPATCHED TO PROVINCES: SICE

The Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC) has announced the Provisional Voters List has been dispatched and are heading to a total of 951 Voter Registration Centres around the country.

Chief Electoral Officer, Polycarp Haununu confirmed in a media conference today, saying every effort is being made to ensure that lists are published across the country as of today.

“So we have sent out lists to the provinces already and by now they should receive their lists. Now we expect the lists to be put up at our various VRCs by this time until the 23rd of July. Now after the 23rd of July, starting on 24 July to 6 August will be the Omission and Objection period.”

Mr Haununu says getting the lists to 951 Voter Registration Centres across the country is a massive logistical task.

He says the Electoral Commission asks people living in remote areas to be patient, and for people in extremely remote areas to plan to check the list later this week.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission says almost 6,000 double registrations have already been detected by the new Biometric Voter Registration system.

Those who have registered twice will appear on the provisional lists, but their names will be highlighted in yellow.

The Chief Electoral Officer says, if people registered more than once, only their first registration will remain on the final list.

Polycarp Haununu explains if a person registered to vote in Honiara and in his or her home constituency, he or she will only be able to vote in the constituency that they registered in first.

He also said voters need to return to their registration centres to ensure their details appear correctly.

He says if registered voters believe there is a mistake with their registration, they should see their Assistant Registration Officer during the Omissions and Objections period.

The Omissions and Objections period runs from July 24 to August 6.