Former Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea Heads Observers for Solomon Islands General Election

Former Papua New Guinea Chief Justice Sir Arnold Amet

In his arrival statement on 28 March, Sir Arnold, on behalf of the Observer Group, announced their arrival and said the group was in Solomon Islands "to consider the various factors impinging on the credibility of the electoral process as a whole, to assess whether, in our own judgement, the conditions exist for a free expression of will by the electors, and to determine if the result of the elections reflect the wishes of the people."

The seven-member team led by Sir Arnold also includes: Cema Bolabola, Executive Director of Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, Fiji Islands; Joseph Borg, Vice-President, National Affairs, Local Councils Association, Malta; Kwame Damoah-Agyemang, former senior election official, Ghana; Elaine Howard, Chair of the Commonwealth Pacific Youth Caucus and Director of the Tonga National Youth Congress, Tonga; Oseah Philemon, Editor-in-Chief, 'Post-Courier', Papua New Guinea; and Lord Peter Truscott, Member of the House of Lords, United Kingdom.

An advance group, consisting of Mose Saitala (former Legislative/Governance Adviser in the Pacific Islands Forum) and Kosi Latu (Adviser, Special Advisory Services Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat), has been present in Solomon Islands since 16 March 2006. The Secretariat team supporting the group is led by Juliet Solomon, Special Adviser in the Political Affairs Division. 

Following various briefings, including that of the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD) Election Observer Co-ordination Team, scheduled for 1-2 April, the Commonwealth group will be deployed around the islands.

After the election the group will return to Honiara to consider its report. "We will take into account our direct observations of the polling and results process. We will also consider the electoral environment as a whole -- the legal framework, the voter registration process, civic and voter education, the media, the freedom of the parties and the candidates to campaign, and the freedom of the voters to vote as they wish. We will write the report here and sign it before we depart on 14 April," Sir Arnold said.
 
"When we leave we will submit our report to the Commonwealth Secretary-General. He will in turn forward it to the Government, the Electoral Commission, the leaders of all the political parties and then to all Commonwealth governments. The report will then be made publicly available, here and throughout the Commonwealth."

With financial support from Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Secretariat has also provided an expert to assist civil society in organising domestic election observers for these elections.

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service, Issue 278, 29 March 2006

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