MOSCOW, November 18 (Sputnik) – For the first time since the end of an international peacekeeping mission to stop ethnic violence on the Solomon Islands, residents are set to hold elections on Wednesday, AFP reported.
Additional police forces have been drawn into Honiara, the capital of the island nation, in case violence breaks out in the city, as it had happened during the 2006 elections. The city authorities have also banned liquor, according to the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Nearly 100 international officers from a number of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Tuvalu have arrived to observe the upcoming elections, AFP said.
In 2003, Solomon Islands descended into chaos when governmental troops began fighting ethnic militants and various warlords in an attempt to gain control of the country. The Australian-led RAMSI intervened shortly thereafter to restore law and order, ABC News reported.
About half of the residents of the Solomon Islanders have registered to cast their vote out of a population 600,000. “Here is the time that you exercise that constitutional right of yours to elect leaders, because it is their policies that influence the country – and its future – in which you live and your children live,” said Mekere Morauta, chairman of the observer group, as quoted by AFP.
Corruption has been a major concern in the country. Justice Stephen Pallaras, an executive member of an international association against corruption, who served three years with the high court in Solomon Islands, said corruption was literally “everywhere”, seeping into every sector of the community, including the police force, politics and business. International observers are worried that electoral fraud could become a problem, with the election being decided by a candidate who can buy off the most votes, ABC New said.
The Solomon Islands are the third most populous nation in the South Pacific, after Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
