5 May 2017

Niue gears up for weekend election

11:58 am on 5 May 2017

Niue's Electoral Commission is expecting a high turnout in this year's election.

Voters can cast their votes between 9am and 6pm at stations located in each of the island's 14 villages on Saturday.

There are six common roll seats and 14 village constituencies seats to fill for the 20-member parliament.

The Chief Electoral Officer Hubert Kalauni said a provisional result would be announced by 9pm that day.

"The election over here, you know, the people are very active on that. I'll say about from the last election about 85-90 percent. But 90 new electors [now], but the total roll is about 1100," he said.

A record number of candidates are vying for a seat in Niue's common roll.

23 candidates are standing for the six common roll seats, the highest number the island had ever seen according to Mr Kalauni.