National Assembly election 2016 - ‘Voting off to smooth start’ |09 September 2016

The first day of voting at special polling stations yesterday went smoothly with no major hiccups.

This was revealed by the chief electoral officer, Joseph Athanasius, when giving an overview of how the first day of voting to elect members for the National Assembly went.

Mr Athanasius said his office has not been notified of any incidents or received any official complaints regarding yesterday’s voting, adding that in general he is satisfied.

There were special voting stations at Ile Perseverance, School Meal Centre, North East Point Hospital, National House and for remands at the Montagne Posée Prison.

Today voting will take place mainly on outer islands. The main voting day on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue is tomorrow Saturday September 10.

The used ballot papers from yesterday’s special stations will be sent to the respective districts and will be counted together when the final counting is done on Saturday.

“I am satisfied with today’s voting procedure.  We did not get any major issues apart from the usual little things. Problems of identification where many people are using their driving licence. I would launch an appeal for people to use their identity card and passport when they identify themselves at the polling stations,” said Mr Athanasius.

He added some people did not get their polling stations right and called at the National Library instead of National House where they were supposed to cast their vote. But, he said, this was immediately rectified.

He also said people who were not able to cast their vote yesterday but were on the list to do so, could still vote on Saturday on the main polling day.

He recalled only one incident on the island where a person was not able to vote because his name was not on the voters’ list.

Regarding feedback from polling stations Mr Athanasius said the process went well and said his office is satisfied with voter turnout.