THREE POLITICAL PARTIES HAVE FIELDED OVER 30 CANDIDATES: ZIRU

The office of the Political Parties Commission has said at least three political parties have fielded a little over 30 candidates for the general elections this month.

Registrar of the Political Parties Commission, Calvin Ziru told local reporters in a media conference this week, despite some parties fielding fewer candidates, they can still participate in the elections.

“At least about three of the parties have fielded more than 30 or just a little bit above 30 candidates and the smallest number of candidates are as low as three or four, but what this basically means is that even though the parties have nominated even three or four candidates, under the Political Parties Integrity Act that allows them to participate in the election and therefore engage in the discussions that will eventually lead to coalition or and forming government and so it was very important right from the beginning to have political parties register.”

He said 12 political parties have been registered and according to records, 202 candidates are members of political parties adding, of the 26 nominated female candidates, 19 are party candidates.

“From the number of candidates that have been nominated, 202 are actually party candidates. From the 26 women that are nominated 19 by our records are actually candidates of parties.”

Meanwhile, the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force is well prepared for the national elections.

Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast says the force has been conducting election awareness with Honiara communities and in some provinces.

He says officers will be deployed to the provinces soon.

“We expect to start deploying officers next week and we’re currently involved as we speak in a command and control coordination exercise with the PPF, so we’re running a desktop notional exercise in our police operations centre and we’re also coordinating with the PPF operations centre and that’s designed to test our readiness to manage the National General Elections.”

Meanwhile, an additional 90 Participating Police Force (PPF) officers from Australia and New Zealand are flying in, to assist
ensure the election is secure and safe.

Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast confirms, the additional officers will arrive next week.