The SIEC Provisional Figure is 287,438 Registered Voters

The Office of the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission has revealed that a total of 287,438 registered voters are on the newly compiled Provisional Voters List.

The figure includes almost 6000 multiple registrations that were detected by the Biometric Voter Registration System and will be subject to revision during the next phase of registration.

The Commission says that the new list is fair, credible and much more accurate than the old list.

“In 2010, 448,188 people were registered to vote out of an estimated population of 567,068. The roll was certainly inflated because realistically, only around half of the total population are eligible voters,” Chief Electoral Officer, Mr Polycarp Haununu said.

“Clearly, some people had registered to vote more than once and a large number of deceased persons’ names had remained on the role.”

The SIEC has used a statistical model to estimate the current eligible voter population based on data from the 2009 census.

In 2009, the census indicated the total population of Solomon Islands was 567,068.

Taking into account the population growth rate, SIEC estimates that the population of Solomon Islands is 638, 239 today, with an estimated electoral population of 339,064 eligible voters.

“287,438 registered voters is within 80-85% of the eligible voting population and it shows that the BVR system has been a great success,” Mr Haununu said.

“This figure compares favorably to most established democracies in highly developedcountries with excellent infrastructure in place. Even in countries where registration is compulsory, the “enrolled” figure is only around 92%.”

So far, the Provisional list has 160,750 fewer registrations than the 2010 electoral roll.

These are believed to have been ghost names, double registrants and deceased persons.

“The BVR system has been a great success. It is a milestone in the SIEC’s advancement in using technology in the conduct of elections,” Mr Haununu said.

“Creating an entirely new voters list under such an advanced technology system is very challenging. The Electoral Commission considered that it would be unlikely to get more people enrolled than 80-85% of the voting population.”

All double registrations will subject to revision by the Revising Officers during the next phase of the registration process.