19 Oct 2011

Delays in voting in parts of Kiribati

3:17 pm on 19 October 2011

Voting on two of Kiribati's islands will be put off until Monday, because of delays in delivering ballot papers.

Kiribati goes to the polls on Friday for the first round of the country's election.

Only about half the eligible voters have registered to elect the 44 MPs.

The chief electoral officer, Rine Ueara says Fanning and Washington islands have not yet received their papers.

"They're far from Christmas Island. They need the boat from Christmas Island to deliver the papers but [because of] problems with shipping lines the papers won't be there until Sunday. We won't be on counting on Fanning and Washington but all the results from other electoral districts will be transferred to the central office and they will be announced on that night."

Rine Ueara.