12 Nov 2007

Marshall Islands NGO pleased to have observers for election next week

8:19 pm on 12 November 2007

A women's group in Marshall Islands says it will meet with Pacific Islands Forum election observers on Wednesday to discuss concerns.

The Marshall Islands go to the polls on November 19th and the women's group wants to ensure that the problems of the last poll do not recur.

It's the first time a Forum observer team has gone to any of its member states north of the equator, and the first time in nearly 30 years that any international group has monitored an election there.

The executive director of Women United Together Marshall Islands, Daisy Alik Momotaro, says they've lobbied hard since the 2003 election to get observers for this poll.

"There were many like discrepancies, there were many complaints, of all the elections history in the Marshall Islands. You know it was in October 2006 we adopted a resolution to find observers so that they could come and do observations at the upcoming election."

Daisy Alik Momotaro

Most of the observer team have already arrived in Majuro.