11 Jun 2002

Vanuatu election observers say rolls are flawed

11:22 am on 11 June 2002

The Election Observers Group deployed during last month's poll in Vanuatu says the country's electoral roll is fundamentally flawed.

The Group's chairman, Pastor Willie David Saul, made the statement as his team is to deliver its final report to the electoral commission.

He says there were 127-thousand registered voters which he says is 20-thousand more than the census projections of people over the age of 18.

The statement also says the presence of the observers appears to have worked as a deterrent to activists who corrupted the electoral process in recent elections.

The Group urges the government to computerise the electoral roll.