Parliamentary Commissioner, Harrison Thompson released the official numbers of the Golden Isles by-election on Wednesday.

According to Thompson numbers reported on Tuesday after the recounts changed slightly including the rejection of six ballots. However, the outcome of the by-election remains unchanged. He said, “Brown from the FNM received 1,637 votes, Butler from independent received 16, Pickstock from the PLP 1,873 and Rolle from the COI 352 votes. The winner for the by-election is Mr. Pickstock from the PLP.”

The Parliamentary Commissioner also addressed the accuracy of the register. This comes after claims have been made that thousands of people registered in the constituency have moved but remain on the register.

Thompson said, “we have removed close to 16,000 persons off the register. Deceased persons and persons who registered more than once, we have removed them from the register. So we believe the register is clean. There maybe one or two that we still have to look at, but for all practical purposes we believe we’re doing a great job at that.”

Looking ahead to the general elections Thompson said personnel at Parliamentary Registration Department are in need of more training. “I just met with my senior officers and we’re looking at some strategy to involve the presiding officers before election time so that…although we had a smooth election we think it could even be better,” he said.