SIEC wishes to remind all candidates who contested the East Makira By-Election on 11 December 2019, to comply with section 69 of the Electoral Act 2018.

Section 69 of the Electoral Act 2018 requires all candidates who contested the East-Makira by-election to file with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, within 90 days from the publication of the result of the by-election, a statement of account specifying:

  1. All expenses incurred by the candidate in relation to the candidate’s campaign for that by-election; and
  2. The source of funds (including the amount received from each source) used to meet those expenses.

The due date for the submission of candidates’ statement of account is 16th March 2020.  

All statements of account required under section 69 of the Act must be provided in the approved Form. If a candidate no longer has access to this Form, which was suppose to have handed to you when you filed your nomination, please take step to collect this form from the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer immediately. 

Please be reminded that the obligation of a candidate to comply with Section 69 of the Electoral Act will not go away until the candidate has correctly and satisfactorily filed his/her statement of account with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer. It is an obligation of a candidate to find out from the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer whether he has correctly and satisfactorily filed his statement of account.

Section 125(b) of the Act specifies that the maximum penalty for failure to comply with Section 69 is:

  1. 20,000 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment or both; and
  2. 100 penalty units for each day the offence continues.