Anse Boileau by-election - Ballot papers to be printed locally |02 February 2018

Ballot papers for the upcoming by-election in the Anse Boileau constituency will be printed locally.

This was announced yesterday during a briefing by the Electoral Commission (EC) with representatives of all political parties taking part in the February 25 election.

The election became due following the resignation this week of Patrick Pillay as Speaker as well as the Anse Boileau representative in the National Assembly.

Nomination day will take place on February 5, at the EC headquarters, Aarti Chambers and all political parties involved must have at least 50 signatures from members of the public.

The representatives of the political parties at the meeting yesterday were Dave Barallon and Roger Mancienne for Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS), Laura Valabhji and Simon Gill for Parti Lepep (PL), Vincent Larue and Regis Francourt for the Seychelles Patriotic Movement (SPN) and Vesna Rakic for the Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy (SPSJD).

Also present were representatives from the Association for Rights, Information and Democracy (Arid) and members of the media.

The purpose of the meeting was to brief the political parties along with the media on the arrangements for nomination day and polling day, printing of ballot papers, media involvement, among other issues.

During the meeting all the parties taking part in the by-election agreed for the ballot papers to be printed locally, instead of overseas as had been the case for past elections.

The print houses that will be chosen for such task will have to provide a brief background of their company, price to print 4000 ballot papers, company profile, among other information.

Polling, which will take place at the Anse Boileau secondary school from 7am to 7pm on February 25, will be held in four voting rooms and it will be by alphabetical order like previous elections.

The EC secretariat will be on site to evaluate the election, complaints, and results will be announced on site.

The by-election will also see special polling stations sprouting up on Silhouette and other inner and outer islands to cater for registered Anse Boileau voters residing in these areas.

It was also announced that all media houses will play a key role in this by-election in terms of voter education.