SIEC set to publish final voters list

The Solomon Island Electoral Commission (SIEC) is set to publish the final voters list for the upcoming election on Friday (19 January 2024).

The list was said to be verified already after the omission and objection period and is to be published in time in preparation for the election.

Chief Electoral Officer Jasper Anisi told SIBC News that the final (verified) list is now ready.

“The list is now ready for publication by Friday, so by this Friday we have a full set of list, in terms of the electoral cycle when the list is updated and ready then election should proceed, in terms of the voters list we have completed the registration by the start of this week so by the end of this week the list should be finalized and ready to be accessed,” he said. 

A good number of people have verified their names during the verification process. It was also recorded that deceased whose names are still on the list make up the highest number of objections.

The public were able to make their objections to SIEC reversing officers who then sent the written objections and decisions to the commissions before a final decision was made. 

“There’s a good number of people that came forward to have their deceased relatives’ names cleared. This is a good indication that ensured that the list is updated in terms of those who are eligible to vote, few objection cases came from those who weren’t supposed to be registered in certain constituencies,” Mr Anisi said.

The final voters list will be published on the SIEC website and can be obtained from the upon payment from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.  

“Our practice is we advise the ministry of finance on when the list will be available, the public can then do their payments with finance then bring their receipts to us upon which we can provide them the list.” 

“The geographical location of Solomon Islands is very complicated and difficult especially if we want to distribute the list everywhere, however those that access it in Honiara can send the list back to their villages, a lot of our provincial centers do access the internet so we are trying to capitalize on that  also usually two weeks before election day we will put up the list in the provinces,” Mr Anisi said. 

Meanwhile registered 17-years-old who will be turning 18 before election day were also included in the final voters list. 

The upcoming national general election date is anticipated to be announced by the Governor General in February.

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By Sharon Nanau