Solomon Islands elections

The Commonwealth Secretariat has recently issued an interim statement on the 2010 Solomon Islands Election

During the election period, Commonwealth observers reported from six of the ten provinces in the country and Honiara, and cooperated with other regional and international observers under the auspices of the United Nations International Election Observation Coordination Team.

The observer team commends the people of the Solomon Islands for conducting the 4 August National Parliamentary election in a peaceful atmosphere. It notes that voters freely exercised their democratic right, and that voting in the polling stations was generally well administered, though some inconsistency in electoral procedures was noticed across stations and provinces.  The team also notes numerous concerns and controversy surrounding the quality of the voter register, and makes some recommendations on this issue - including the use of voter cards. The role of the media is commended, "Solomon Islands has a vibrant independent media which provided comprehensive and responsible coverage of the campaign and election day.", and the interim statement includes discussion on the election campaign, dupport for women candidates, voting and counting processes and electoral administration.

The full report, once published, will be acquired by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library, and will join our already extensive collection of reports by Commonwealth and other observer groups.