TWO intending candidate for the Provincial Election in ward one Aoke/Langalanga in Malaita province were shocked to discover the swapping of their symbols ahead of the election today.
And the ministry responsible was blamed for causing the problem.
Intending candidate Joel Revelry Junior told this paper late on Tuesday afternoon that he was shocked to see the changes.
His original symbol was coconut but when the final ballots were printed, his symbol was changed to a tree.
While his coconut symbol was assigned to another candidate, Henry Labu.
“My original symbol was coconut and so I was very surprised to see my symbol (coconut) being given to Henry Labu while I was assigned the symbol for tree,” Mr Junior said.
He said the mistake was done by the ministry responsible.
The candidate said he was disappointed and felt hopeless because most of his voters were now confused because of the changes, Mr Junior added.
He claimed he had approached the returning officer to delay the election but to no avail.
Mr Junior said, for sure his voters will be confused today during voting.
This paper has made several attempts to get comments from the returning officer which proved futile.
Mr Junior is appealing to all his voters and supporters to look for tree instead of coconut.
He is one of the 13 candidates contesting ward one in the Aoke/Langalanga area.
By LUCIO SANGA
In Auki
