Voters in Kiribati go to polls today in the first round of the national election. 133 candidates are standing for 44 seats. The chief electoral officer Takiakia Beneteti says there are about 40,000 registered voters. She says final figures may be slow to be compiled because of communication problems with some of the outer islands. “We are still working on it now, like we informed all the electoral officers from the outer islands to use every means of communication available. We use internet for some outer islands and some islands they are not access to internet VHF radio.”
Candidates who secure more than 50 percent of the total vote in their respective constituencies today are elected.
The second round of voting which is scheduled for January the 7th will see remaining candidates face off in a first past the post election. This is followed by a presidential election.
Source: Polls open in Kiribati election | Radio New Zealand News.
