10 May 2006

About 100,000 votes cast in Fiji by Tuesday

7:30 pm on 10 May 2006

Figures released by the Fiji Elections Office show that 99,000 voters had cast their votes in the two and half days of voting until midday on Tuesday.

That is just over 20 percent of the 479,000 voters registered on the electoral rolls.

The supervisor for elections, Semesa Karavaki, says the numbers are provisional as voter turnout figures from many remote polling stations in the interior of the country are still coming in.

Mr Karavaki says that while he is receiving positive reports from returning officers, he is also relying on the media to find out the situation on the ground.

Presiding officers at polling stations who have shown unsatisfactory conduct have been disciplined and one has been removed for breaching the law.

Mr Karavaki has categorically rejected allegations by a political party that he is printing extra ballot papers every night.