Palau’s election polls closed 5 hours ago at 7:00 pm and at just before midnight the results are just now coming in from Ngermid. In Ngermid, President Toribiong received 112 votes and Remengesau received 82 votes; Vice-President Mariur received 125 votes and Bells received 63.
Electronic ballot counting was intended to make the process of tabulation speedy and more efficient. However, a delay has been created by the machine’s inability to read write-in candidates. Also, in some cases, voters have forgotten to shade the oval that indicates that they included a write-in candidate. Therefore, ballots are now subject to manual review.
No announcement has been made as to how late the volunteers will stay or whether or not whether counting will be completed this evening.
OTV has been at the Ngarachemayong Cultural Center since 9:00pm providing live coverage to all of Palau on both Channels 23 and 29.