Crack down on duplicate voting

PORT VILA – Vanuatu’s electoral office says it’s hoping to crack down on duplicate voting as it prepares to send new electoral cards to people who lost theirs when cyclone Pam struck in March.

The principal electoral officer, Charles Vatu, says voters who need new cards for January’s election should go to their local registration officers to have their identity verified.

He says the office has taken measures to prevent what happened in the 2012 election, where people voted multiple times using multiple cards.

Vatu says he expects double registration will still be an issue this election, but in an effort to manage it, everyone who wishes to case a proxy vote has to be personally certified by himself.

“Which means that every person that is registered to vote in any polling station and resides in Vanuatu on polling day has to go in person on polling day to cast his or her vote.”

Charles Vatu says there are currently about 200,000 people registered for the snap election scheduled to take place on the January 22.

The Vanuatu Supreme Court is to announce its decision on the legality of the dissolution of parliament next Wednesday.

Former members of the opposition and Kenneth Natapei, who was elected but not sworn in, are opposed to last month’s move by president Baldwin Lonsdale to dissolve the parliament and force the new election.

On Thursday the court heard from the president’s lawyer, and the lawyer for the Republic of Vanuatu, who both argued that the president had applied his discretionary power and the former MPs did not need to be consulted before parliament was dissolved.

But the applicants say article 43 of the Constitution deals with the collective responsibility of ministers relating to any dissolution.

Most of the now former cabinet of the dissolved government are in jail after being convicted of bribery and plunging Vanuatu into months of political uncertainty.

Meanwhile, a reminder has been made through the Office of Prime Minister for the media to make fair and accurate reporting as provided under the Media Code of Ethics.

“The Prime Minister’s Office expects journalists to operate with impartiality which means they should not be prejudiced towards the former opposition or the current caretaker government.”

An event planned to mark International Anti Corruption Day in Vanuatu has been postponed to next year.

International Anti Corruption Day is Celebrated every year on December 9 as an opportunity for communities globally to rally in support of the work being undertaken to combat corruption in all its forms.

This year, the Vanuatu government had partnered with Transparency International Vanuatu (TIV) to plan a significant event to mark international Anti Corruption Day.

However, this has been postponed as “promised funding for the event did not arrive in time to enable the event to go ahead”.

“Neither of the organisers wished to put individuals and businesses in the position of providing services such as catering, equipment and entertainment without guaranteed proper payment for that service,” the Daily Post has reported. - PNC