By Mike Puia
THE new date set for the commencement of the 2019 National General Elections voter registration is within the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission timeframe.
Earlier, the Commission announced the registration exercise will commence on Monday, August 20. Not long after, it issued a new date – Wednesday, September 3.
The new date was made known through SMS message Our Telekom sent out via mobile phones on Monday.
Some were quick to suspect the extension was due to funding.
There were couple of dates the Commission has been working on as commencement date for the registration. Among these initial dates were; Monday, August 20 and Monday, August 27.
The late date set was Wednesday, September 3. The Commission decided to go with this date. It was a decision made by the Commission’s Chief Electoral Officer.
The last date means that it’s the final date the Commission will never go beyond. Any date beyond Wednesday, September 3 would fall outside the Commission’s registration programme timeframe.
The only thing that would potentially disrupt the Commission timeframe is natural disasters like cyclone.
As for now to Wednesday, September 3, the Commission continues with its training programs for officers who are being engaged to work in the registration exercise.
The Commission is using this extension to also sort out other technical things as part of its preparation for the exercise.
Updates about the Commission’s registration programme are expected to come out in SMS text messages and through radio messages.
These messages will guide voters on what to do before, during and after the registration period.
In its post on social media, the Commission stated that this registration to update the voter list used during the 2014 national general elections and it will target those who turn 18 years old this year and their names not in the list.
The update list will looks to capture new eligible voters, those who missed out from registration and those who want to update their details.
