THE by-election counting for Central Honiara and North East Guadalcanal Constituencies will continue today at Rove Police Headquarter in Honiara.
Counting officials confirmed to the Solomon Star last night.
For Central Honiara Constituency they completed batch 3 which includes a total of 9 polling stations.
Central Honiara Constituency has a total of 12 batches which means a total of 9 batches still remain. Each batch has three ballot boxes.
For North East Guadalcanal Constituency, they have completed 2 batches with 9 polling stations yesterday.
The Solomon Star understands that North East Guadalcanal has a total of 4 batches, in the first batch 4 polling stations were counted while 5 polling stations were counted in the second batch.
Returning Officer for North East Guadalcanal Constituency Luke Cheka told this paper at Rove that they will start their counting at 8 am today.
Meanwhile, when this paper asked about the results for the first two batches Cheka said the result will be made available only after they complete the counting.
The same applied to Honiara Constituency’s first three batches.
Returning Officer for Central Honiara also told this paper that due to security reasons counting has been suspended.
The counting for the third batch for Central Honiara Constituency completed after 7 pm last night.
The counting officials also assured that all the remaining ballot boxes are safe under maximum security provided by the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.
This paper understands that the counting for both constituencies might complete today as voters and supporters are anticipating the result of the by-elections.
Both constituencies were without a national leader after their respective MPs were disqualified by the High Court for election-related bribery.
Meanwhile, at the completion of day one of counting last night Alfred Efona is leading the race for Central Honiara Constituency after the 3rd batch of counting with Gordon Darcy Lilo not far behind.
For North East Guadalcanal, Ethel Vokia is leading the race after the 2nd batch of counting with Dr. Derrick Sikua in second place.
By ANDREW FANASIA
Newsroom Honiara
