20 Nov 2007

Chaos during Marshall Islands elections

9:21 am on 20 November 2007

Chaos during the Marshall Islands elections yesterday forced the government to extend voting into the early hours of this morning.

A number of polling stations in the capital Majuro did not open before midday, despite the official opening time being 7am.

Our correspondent, Giff Johnson, says one did not get opened until four pm.

He says the Attorney General agreed to keep them open until until after midnight to give people more time to vote.

Giff Johnson says electoral officials were not immediately taking responsibility for the chaos.

"I talked to officials with the Ministry of Internal affairs under which the electoral administration comes, and they told me things like all the paper work was not prepared to go out and we only had six vehicles to get the ballots to out 30 polling stations on this 30-mile long atoll. But you know this has been planned for four years, oh well least for the last year anyway."

Giff Johnson