BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
THE Solomon Islands Electoral Commission has registered 420,000 voters for the joint general elections in April, compared to 359,522 in the previous poll, Operation Manager Freddrick Bosoboe said on Sunday on the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) Radio Talk Back show.
As the country gears up for this significant democratic event in April, Solomon Islanders working offshore for seasonal work will not be eligible to vote in this year’s elections, as they must attend constituency polling booths, according to the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC).
Operation Manager Bosoboe said the Commission’s data center successfully processed the final data from public inquiries, completing the process on January 13th this year.
“As soon as the Governor General (GG) issues proclamations, the 56-day countdown will begin. Following that, there will likely be a 14-day window for the nomination of candidates, which will run from February 21 to March 6.
“Unlike previous elections, where nomination centers were located in constituencies, the joint elections will have them in our provincial capital. In the upcoming weeks, specifics regarding the nomination centers’ locations will be disclosed,” according to Bosoboe.
The Chief Electoral Officer of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC), Jasper Highwood Anisi, stated that the voter list for the 2024 Joint Election is expected to be made available for public viewing on Friday, February 2nd of this week.
“By this Friday [today] of this week, the final voter list was looking pretty likely. We have until then to make the list public. The list is ready; all that’s left to do is publish it so that people can access it.
“The voter list has been completed, but it needs to be approved by the commission before it can be made available to the public,” CEO Anisi said.
He said that the Governor General (GG) will issue a proclamation on February 20 in accordance with their timeline.
“We will implement the 56 electoral preparation timeline following the GG’s declaration or announcement of Election Day. It will be 56 days later when elections are held. Based on our timeline, the election is scheduled for April 17th.
“As you are all aware, the election is three months away. After the GG issues the proclamation, elections will take place in April,” Anisi said.
