Electoral Commissioner Faimalomatumua Mathew Lemisio has lashed out at “bush journalists”, saying they are trying to confuse the public with their commentaries on the electoral process.

The Electoral Commissioner expressed his concerns in a post on his Facebook page on Sunday as electoral officials continued with the counting of the special votes that were sorted from the various ballot boxes.

"For those including ‘bush journalists’ who are still trying their best to confuse the people with this aspect of the electoral process,” he wrote on his page.

“This is the sorting out of special votes cast on Friday during the general election. 

“These special votes are pulled out of the different ballot boxes from all the 400 odd stations, then are placed in the special boxes that you can see in the front being placed on their sides so that the scrutineers can clearly see them. 

“This has always been the process.”

Faimalo didn't state in his social media post who exactly he was referring to as the 'bush journalists.'

The counting of the special votes started on Saturday at 3pm at the Multipurpose Gym, Tuanaimato and continued on Sunday. Upon the completion of the counting of the special votes from Savai’i they moved to Upolu.

"We started this process yesterday at around 3pm for all the Upolu constituencies and completed it this morning at around 4am,” added Faimalo. 

“We are now sorting the special votes from the Savaii booth and later the mobile booths so stay tuned and keep following the process so you can form your own opinion."

The Electoral Commissioner then cautiously warned of the dangers of reaching conclusions on the electoral process without the right information. 

According to the O.E.C. Communications Officer, Vaasiliega Iupati Laga’aia, special votes are distributed to their correct constituencies and were cast by electoral officials who were working in different constituencies on election day other than their residences where they registered to vote.

He explained that if an election official is from Safata and was assigned to work at the Faasaleleaga polling booth, he or she can vote from Faasaleleaga and that particular vote will be counted at Safata.

Even the people who are admitted at national hospitals as well as nurses and doctors who were on duty can vote using the special votes and their votes will still go to the constituency where they are registered under.

The process of counting the special votes was overseen by multiple scrutineers representing the candidates as well as the Police.