THE first shipment of election materials will be departing Honiara to the eastern region of the country this Sunday.
The Solomon Islands Electoral Commission has announced during a press conference yesterday, the shipment up east will cover the islands of Makira and Temotu provinces.
SIEC Communications and Awareness Manager Philothea Ruaeho said the shipment will include polling kits, ballot papers, voters’ lists and other materials.
She said this is the first boat to leave Honiara and will be followed with others to other provinces in the coming days.
The Commission said as the date for the election is just over two weeks away they want to ensure preparations are done one week ahead of the polling day on the 19th.
Adding five boats were engaged to transport these materials to other parts of the country including the central region, western region, Guadalcanal and the Renbel provinces.
She added that printing of ballot papers is going on well with different printing companies being engaged.
Ms Ruaeho said despite the challenges the Commission faces, progress of work thus far is on schedule unless there is an unforeseen situation like a disaster that would disrupt the schedule of work that will affect the polling day on the 19th.
However Operations Manager of SIEC Freddie Bosoboe said the Commission has contingency plans in place in case of an unforeseen situation that might affect the election.
Meanwhile Ms Ruaeho said, recruitment of polling assistants and presiding officers have been done and will be trained starting next week by their Returning Officers before the day of the elections.
By DANIEL NAMOSUAIA