A TOTAL of 202 ballot papers have been rejected in the Lau Mbaelelea constituency, Malaita Province during counting over the weekend at Auki.
That was according to the reports collected after the result were finalized by the Returning Officer David Oeta.
He said the rejected ballots were due to mistakes done by voters during the voting day, Wednesday last week.
“Most of the voters have ticked or marked their ballot papers wrongly.”
Mr. Oeta said instead of ticking the box, voters ticked on the names of candidates and symbols.
“Thats why their ballots were rejected or not counted according to the electoral law,” Mr Oeta added.
However, a good number of voters have shown up to the polling stations to cast their votes last Wednesday.
A total of 10,599 have been registered to vote.
But according to the result only 9561 have been vote, 202 were rejected and 836 missed out or were absent to cast their votes last Wednesday.
Maeue Augustine Auga has been declared as the new MP for Lau Mbaelelea constituency.
By LUCIO SANGA
In Auki