Police arrest a man in Honiara for alleged electoral offence

Officers from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) National Criminal Investigation Division (NCID) have arrested a man on 12 February 2019 for allegations instituted under the Electoral Act.

Police made the arrest after receiving referrals from the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC) revealing details of a 50-year-old man from Malaita Province registered to vote on seven separate occasions, using different names, dates of birth and other details on each occasion. Only one of the seven registrations allegedly included his correct details.

The man is charged with seven counts of Misleading Information under section 113 (2) of the Electoral Act which carries a maximum penalty of $50,000.00 or five years imprisonment or both. He is expected to appear in court today.

Supervising Commissioner of Police Gabriel Manelusi says,

“The arrest is made possible following the joint effort of RSIPF and the SIEC in ensuring that all facet of the election process operate lawfully, fairly and safely.”

“A task force has been created within the NCID to investigate the SIEC referral cases. I also want to remind the general public that this type of behaviour is not acceptable in our society. Police will ensure that people whom are implicated in these practises will have to face the consequences according to our laws. The RSIPF and its NCID taskforce will continue to work closely with SIEC to investigate and apprehend anybody trying to influence the National General Election.

The Chief Electoral Officer Moses Saitala states, “The SIEC has implemented some strong effective business processes to protect the integrity of the National General Election. This includes the new election process we adopted in September 2018 where we captured voter registration applicants’ photographs, fingerprints and other information. This allows us to detect instances where persons unlawfully register at multiple occasions.”

The RSIPF investigation into the National General Election multi registration cases is ongoing.