NNA - The Ministry of Tele-Communications and the Ogero Authority issued a statement this afternoon, in response to what was reported by some audio-visual and written media, quoting officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, that communication lines were cut-off for a period of time with a number of polling stations abroad due to weakness in the national network.

"Both the Tele-Communications Ministry and Ogero Authority were following-up on the progress of the electoral process, moment by moment, with regards to the technical part (internet)...As soon as the above news was circulated through the media, the technical teams began to check the matter, knowing that they did not receive any malfunction report," the statement confirmed.

It added that the technical teams' inspection revealed that the high-speed internet service provided to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants via the fiber-optic network did not stop at all, clarifying that the technical problem actually resulted from the Foreign Ministry itself.

==========R.Sh.