The leader of the Human Rights Protection Party, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, has called on the Commissioner of the Electoral Office to use his common sense to ensure staff are given time to rest during the vote counting process currently underway.

Tuilaepa made the call in a public statement. He said he feels for staff who are being “worked to the bone” and not given rest.

“Even candidate committee members are being called upon to work these long hours without rest; that is nonsense,” he said.

Tuilaepa believes that this is why there are many mistakes discovered during the vote-counting process.

“The staff of the electoral office are not machines; they need rest, and the commissioner needs to look at reducing hours,” said Tuilaepa.

He said there should not be a problem with security as police are there “round the clock” and working shifts. Staff of OEC have been seen on social media lying around under stadium seats trying to get rest, raising concerns for their health.

“They are likely to end up being sick if the commissioner does not do something about reducing hours. We can all wait for results, but we can’t have staff ending up sick after this process,” said Tuilaepa.

The official count, which started on Monday, will continue until Thursday, but changes could be made from time to time, said Tuiafelolo in a recent interview.

He said the OEC is trying their best to make sure all the errors made by the electoral officials are discovered and corrected.

Tuiafelolo did not comment on this matter, but recently said in a previous interview that there is still time for the staff to have a break after official counts each day.