Ballot boxes for Shortlands constituency being loaded for transportation to the Western Provincial Assembly office.
ELECTION results for the Western Province constituencies are expected tomorrow as the verification process of ballot boxes is currently underway.
The province election manager, Collin Potakana, confirmed this to the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) media in Gizo today.
“At the close of polling yesterday, we managed to retrieve all boxes for 4 constituencies, which include Gizo/Kolombanaga, Ranongga/Simbo, North Vella La Vella, and South Vella La Vella. The remaining five constituencies, which include Marovo, South New Georgia Rendova and Tetepare, Shortlands, North New Georgia, West New Georgia and Vonavona, will be retrieved today.
“All the boxes are kept and secured at the Western Provincial Assembly office conference room under close police protection before they can be moved to the counting centers, which are at the Gizo Community High School, he said.
Mr. Potakana assured the public that the ballot boxes are secured as they are under tight police security and escorted from the polling stations to the counting centers.
In terms of counting, he said they are looking at starting it today with the verification process first, before the actual counting.
“This is a new process inside our electoral process. Unlike previous elections, counting starts straight away as long as ballot boxes are retrieved and arrive at the counting centers. That is how I know.
“But now, the new process is that we will first do a verification process, and that can take the whole day. So actual counting might even start tomorrow.
“The verification is very important, especially to ensure that we verify the number of cast ballots against the batches that have been delivered to the polling stations, and so to ensure that all the shield numbers and all the documents are matching up, so that there are no anomalies or any issues to distract the next process, which is the actual counting.
“So, for public awareness today, it is more likely just verification. Once we are satisfied and agree, counting will start. So more likely, verification will take the whole day today, depending on how many polling stations we have. And then actual counting will happen,” Mr. Potakana explained.
A total of 90 counting officials will be involved in the counting process for Western, with 10 officials for each constituency.
The Western Province has nine constituencies. The province only participates in the national general election (NGE) and has until 2028 to partake in the provincial election.
SIG PRESS
