Two new Malaita members of parliament to be determined today

Two new members of parliament from Malaita's Aoke Langalanga and East Malaita Constituencies will be determined today as counting began in Auki this morning.

Reports from Malaita capital, Auki, stated that voting in the bye-elections for Aoke LangLanga and East Malaita constituencies ended at 5pm yesterday.

The acting director of Government Communication Unit George Herming reported that counting of ballot papers will not start until today morning.

He said this was to avoid any disruptions to the counting process in the event of power failure.

Herming said counting of ballots for both constituencies would take place in Auki.

It is expected that election officials in East Malaita had already brought the ballot boxes across to Auki early this morning.

Meanwhile, Herming added that voting in the Aoke LangLanga constituency was problem free. He said people were excited and were determined to elect their new parliamentarian.

Herming said voter turn out for East Malaita was similar according to accounts he gathered from people passing through Auki from that region.

Results for the two by-elections will not be heard until today afternoon.

Source: SIBC