Seychelles' Electoral Commission announces nomination day for upcoming elections Sept. 16 and 18
General |Author: Betymie Bonnelame | August 21, 2020, Friday @ 21:13| 3645 views
Lucas said that everyone who wants to take part in the elections is welcome to come to the Electoral Commission. (Electoral Commission Seychelles)
(Seychelles News Agency) - The Nomination Day for the upcoming elections in October will be on September 16 for presidential candidates and September 18 for the National Assembly candidates, said a top official of the Electoral Commission in Seychelles.
The chairperson of the Commission, Danny Lucas, told a press conference on Friday, that the two nominations are separated because while that for the presidential election will be easier as there will be fewer candidates, "the Nomination Day for the National Assembly election will present a more logistical challenge."
He said that on Monday when the dates are officially gazetted "everyone who wants to take part in the elections is welcome to come to the Electoral Commission where there will be an officer to provide them with all the necessary forms and to ensure that there are all fully aware of what is needed for them to submit their candidature."
For the printing of the ballot papers, Lucas said that this will done at a printing house in Dubai.
He said that when the Commission received all the quotations from both local and international printing houses "based on the figures and on practical experience, we decided that the printing of ballot papers will be done overseas more specifically at a printing house in Dubai."
Lucas added that the Commission would have still had to go abroad to put security features on the ballot papers if they were printed by a local printing house as it is not possible for the features to be added locally.
He said that all the information including election night has been shared with the five political parties that attended a meeting on Friday morning.
The presidential and legislative elections in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, will take place October 22-24.
Figures released by the Electoral Commission show that 89,638 citizens are eligible to vote and 72,287 are registered to vote, meaning some 17,000 citizens were not registered as of May.