29 Oct 2012

Vanuatu officials complete final touches ahead of tomorrow's election

5:22 pm on 29 October 2012

As Vanuatu prepares to go to the polls tomorrow, the electoral returning officer for rural areas in Sanma Province says staff have been working around the clock to get all ballot boxes out to the polling stations.

Sakariah Daniel says electoral teams have had to contend with some stern logistical challenges in dispatching the boxes, including bad weather and poor roads.

But he believes all polling stations will be ready to go by the start of polling tomorrow morning.

"Now we have more or less dispatched most of our boxes. We have 73 polling stations. As of yesterday we have dispatched most of our boxes to the remotest areas - it takes about a day's walk , 24 hours walk in the bush - we've dropped them yesterday, last night. Then this morning we're still dispatching them and then tomorrow the last dispatchment will be at 4AM."

Sakariah Daniel says each polling station will have a polling officer and a policeman manning it.