Chan returns to parliament for Namatanai

MEMBER for Namatanai and People’s Progress Party candidate Byron Chan was elected into parliament on Saturday.
At the 14th elimination of John Saet, Chan won with 12,001 votes ahead of NA’s Walter Schnaubelt, who mustered only 10,785.
Namatanai returning officer Michael Agovauwa declared Chan victorious at 10.49pm, enabling him another term in parliament.
Agovauwa commended the people of Namatanai for ensuring polling and counting progressed smoothly in the past few weeks.
He said the only hiccup was the petition raised by few candidates last Thursday, but this was addressed as understanding prevailed and counting resumed.
Though figures were not available yesterday, the number of informal votes in the electorate was down on the 2007 figure.
Agovauwa said the trend in this year’s elections indicated that there were fewer informal votes in rural areas than in the urban centres.
He said reports had surfaced that young people in urban areas were casting their votes out of ignorance and not fully completing ballot papers.