General elections 2020 |28 October 2020
Stationery, unused ballot papers in left-behind boxes
The two ballot boxes found yesterday at the Beau Vallon secondary school used as the district鈥檚 polling station during last weekend鈥檚 general elections contained stationery and unused ballot papers, the Electoral Commission has confirmed.
According to Andy Juliette, the electoral officer for Beau Vallon, the two ballot boxes which were still sealed when found stayed behind following Saturday鈥檚 polling due to transportation problem.
He explained that since all vehicles were full, they had no other options but to leave two of the unused boxes behind.
The Electoral Commission's marketing and public relations consultant Muriel Morgan said it is unfortunate that such incident happened and guaranteed members of the public that it will not change, or have any other impact on the final results.
Also present at the discovery yesterday were the three candidates who contested the 好色TV Assembly election for the Beau Vallon district, namely John Hoareau (Linyon Demokratik Seselwa), Steven Rose (United Seychelles) and Keith Andr茅 (independent candidate).
Mr Hoareau, who represented Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS), described the incident as 鈥渕inor since the boxes and their contents were not tampered with鈥�.
Something he said 鈥渋f it had happened would have had a different impact on the election鈥檚 final results, including a possible re-run鈥�.
Mr Rose, who represented United Seychelles (US), said he was instructed by his party not to comment on the incident until further notice.
As for Mr Andr茅, who stood as an independent candidate, he said 鈥渢he incident questions the ability, knowhow and competency of the officers who worked at the station on Saturday鈥�.
He also added that 鈥渆ven if the incident does not directly impact the election鈥檚 final result, it is however important for a proper investigation to take place so that such incident does not repeat itself in the future鈥�.
Mr Hoareau was re-elected as Beau Vallon MNA with 1727 votes (60%) ahead of Mr Rose (US, 913 votes, 31.7%) and Mr Andr茅 (independent, 236, 8%).
听
Roland Duval
听