In response to a complaint filed by campaign officials of losing incumbent Amenta Matthew, Attorney General Filimon Manoni directed the police to begin investigating the allegations that while people were standing in line to vote at the polling station for Utrik Atoll voters, they were given sheets of paper with numbers corresponding to council candidates and Matthew’s parliament opponent Hiroshi Yamamura.
Matthew, the health minister, has been the only woman in the Marshalls’ parliament the past four years and has lost to Yamamura, 406-343 votes, according to final unofficial results. Matthew won 64 percent of the 146 votes cast on Utrik Atoll, but Yamamura — a four-term MP before he lost to Matthew in 2007 — won both the Utrik absentee votes cast by voters living in Majuro and those living in the United States.
“The complaint by Amenta Matthew’s campaign suggests actions, which if established to be true, are probably a violation of the Election and Referenda Act,” AG Manoni said on Thursday. “We’ve referred this to the police to see if there is a case.”
Manoni said he also received four other complaints referred to him by Chief Electoral Officer Joseph Jorlang, who determined that they were without merit. Manoni said he agreed with the election chief’s decision and is not pursuing the four other complaints.
Meanwhile, the final unofficial results from the November 21 election were issued earlier this week by Chief Electoral Officer Jorlang. A two-week period for recounts or complaints is now in progress. After December 26, the election results will be declared official, which will allow the parliament to be seated on January 3.
