Electoral authorities in Solomon Islands are reminding voters and intending candidates of severe penalties under the country's new electoral law.
Chief Electoral Officer of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission, Moses Saitala, speaks to voters about the Biometric Voter Registration update exercise in Honiara Solomon Islands. 12 August 2018. Photo: Solomon Islands Electoral Commission
For major offences like election bribery and fraudulent voting the penalties include up to 15 years imprisonment and/or fines of over $US19,000, as well as an automatic five year ban on voting or standing in elections.
Lesser offences such as providing misleading information can still land offenders in jail for five years and possibly steep fines.
Thousands of people have been lining up at voter registration booths throughout the country this month as it prepares for elections next year.
The chief electoral officer Mose Saitala said there was still a lack of awareness about the new law.
"I think right now the trend is that still a lot of people do not really fully understand these new penalties so this is what I am vigourously doing now by way of going out to the media explaining to people about this," Mose Saitala said.
A voter in Honiara, Solomon Islands raises questions on the Voter Registration Update exercise carried out throughout the country from the third to the 27th of September. Photo: Solomon Islands Electoral Commission
Mr Saitala said more than 50,000 new voters are expected to be added to the 286,000 strong roll which was last updated in 2014.
Provisional rolls would be ready for checking next month but Mr Saitala said it was encouraging to see that even as they lined up, voters were checking up on each other to ensure there were no wrong registrations.
"The only legal way of stopping people registering in places that they shouldn't be registering at is by way of voters themselves to scrutinise the provisional lists to see whether that person is actually from there and if not then they can object to those names that are not supposed to be registering in that particular constituency," Mr Saitala said.
Voter registration opened on the third of this month and will close on the 27th which is Thursday a fortnight.