Chairman of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC) Mr. Patterson Oti has met with Mr. Levan Bouadze, Permanent Representative of UNDP Pacific Office, and UNDP Country Manager for Solomon Islands Mr. Berdi Berdiyev.
The courtesy visit by the UNDP team to the Chairman of the SIEC was held at the Solomon Islands Parliament. The meeting also included the Deputy Clerk of Parliament and the Acting CEO of the Solomon Islands electoral office (SIEO).
The objective of the visit by Mr. Levan Bouadze was to foster and strengthen the existing partnership with the SIEC under the Strengthening the Electoral Cycle in the Solomon Islands Project (SECSIP) and the National Parliament of Solomon Islands under the Parliamentary Development Project (PPEI, SLIP).
"We continue to acknowledge all the support rendered to the Commission by far and looking forward to ongoing support for the next electoral activities including the next general elections," said Mr Bouadze.
The SIEC is currently embarking on ambitious electoral reforms, which includes holding simultaneous elections for both the national and provincial governments and being able to vote outside of one’s constituency.
A taskforce has been established and are currently consulting provincial assemblies’ and other stakeholders in the nine provinces.
Five provincial assemblies including Honiara City Council have been consulted. There are four more provinces to go namely Malaita, Temotu, Western and Choiseul Province.
Source: With SIEO