BY SAMIE WAIKORI
AUKI
LEADER of Opposition, Matthew Wale says the election process is hijacked by the controversial government intention to defer the current parliament life to another year.
Wale made this statement during his constituency talk in Auki on Tuesday.
A question was raised as to why the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission – a body responsible for election processes have not said anything on the proposed deferment of the election.
In response the Opposition leader said the proposed policy came from the government and SIEC will perform their duty as responsible body to carry out election processes.
He explained that if the policy starts from the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC), it will follow the right election process.
Wale talked about the process and that people should consult the proposal and after, a white paper will be drafted on the proposal and submitted to parliament for debate.
He said from there, it will return to people and after that the bill will drafted and sent to caucus and cabinet and back to the Bills and Legislative Committee before it is tabled before parliament.
Wale said this is the process. However, in this case, the government approved the proposal policy last year and hid it until it was leaked.
He said now, they are pushing the proposal outcome in their current constituency consultation to get people’s view on the proposal.
Wale said the proposal to defer election from next year is decided and approved by the government for the reason of hosting the SPG and other reasons.
