general elections

The Office of the Electoral Commission has confirmed that total roll is following the removal of 3673, which was the total number of deceased voters.

The three-day pre-polling window has been set by the office of the Electoral Commission prior to the official Election Day on 9 April.
 

Election Officials to work for the OEC during Election Day are also eligible to vote during the pre-polling stages.

The trainings focused on Language of Communication and Developing Effective Campaign Strategy.

Twenty-three women registered to contest the elections and were accepted by the Office of Electoral Commissioner.

Candidate for Vaa o Fonoti, Taumainamoe Aufui Tuimalatu said she has benefitted a lot from the trainings.

His former deputy, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, resigned from cabinet last week, also vacating the Natural Resources and Environment ministerial portfolio.

Speaking on TV3 television, Tuilaepa said he has decided that he would now take on the portfolio, saying the workload is easy without the need for international travel.

But he explained that Samoa can go without both a deputy prime minister and a deputy leader in the ruling party until after the 2021 polls.

Opening the electoral rolls for overseas Samoans to cast their ballots as absentee voters during general elections has resurfaced again with Former Prime Minister and Ex-Opposition Leader Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi urging Government to amend the electoral laws to this effect.

But the Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi is baffled with the narrow minded thinking by the former PM.

A fire at the BCN's offices last week destroyed the TV studios and editing suite, and seriously damaged the radio studios.

That hit plans for debates, meet-the-candidate sessions and extensive live coverage in the week of the election.

A journalist at the BCN, Sofaia Koroitanoa, said they had ve been scrambling to find ways to cover an election from a temporary office with no broadcasting equipment.

  He told supporters he had "always believed in miracles" as partial results showed the Liberal-National Coalition close to a majority.

Opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten has announced he is resigning after accepting defeat.

Exit polls had suggested a narrow Labor win for the first time in six years.

The final result of the election may not be known for some hours, but with more than 70% of votes counted the Coalition has won, or is ahead in, 74 seats in its quest for a 76-seat majority, with Labor on just 66 seats.

In a preliminary statement released over the weekend, its chairperson, former Vanuatu prime minister Sato Kilman, says the group acknowledged the efforts of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission to conduct the election under the country's new Electoral Act which was brought in just the year before.

Mr Kilman said his group observed some positive aspects of the process and also identified areas that could be improved to enhance the country's democratic process.

The group is made up of eminent persons from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Mr Kilman said his team of 15 would travel to several provinces including the capital Honiara and observe the organisation and conduct of the election including the environment in which it is held.

Weather warnings are in place for the whole of Fiji as more than 550,000 voters make their way to the polling booths.

It is a public holiday in Fiji, which is going to the polls for just the second time in 12 years.

Voters have a choice of 233 candidates, from six political parties, vying for 51 seats.

Voters have been urged to double check where they are due to vote or risk being turned away.

Two-thousand police have been deployed and the military is on stand-by.

The police chief is warning rumour-mongers not to create unnecessary fear.

Local media report Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama advised President Jioji Konrote to dissolve parliament today.

Bainimarama visited Government House in Suva this morning and he met with President Konrote for about 30 minutes.

Bainimarama returned from New York earlier today.

President Konrote will issue the Writ of Elections on Monday.

Photo file. Caption: A voter casts her vote in the 2014 General Elections in Fiji