Electoral Commission conducts One-day Electoral Planning Workshop

Electoral Commission conducts One-day Electoral Planning Workshop

by Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission [EC] conducted a one-day Electoral Planning Workshop to organize itself and review all the activities for the 50 Day Writ-to-Writ period.

In attendance were the Supervisor of Elections, the Chairperson of the EC and the six (6) members of the Commission.

“It is very important for us to assess at this stage the level of planning that is involved in terms of the 50-day period and particularly to understand the tasks that need to be delivered by the EC itself under the law,” Chairperson of the EC, Mr Mukesh Nand said.

The Electoral Commissioners also took some time to assess the barrel used for the Candidate Ball Draw following the presentation by the Fijian Elections Office [FEO] Team.

“It is very interesting the way that we run Elections in Fiji and I have reviewed the presentation from the FEO in regards to key processes building up during the Writ-to-Writ period,” he said.

“I am confident that FEO will effectively carry out all these processes so that Fiji will have a free, fair and credible election in 2022.”

The workshop will conclude later this evening.

 

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For noting by the media:

  1. Please forward all media queries to the FEO Communications team at communications@feo.org.fj
  2. Earlier Press Releases and Media Statements are available on the FEO website https://www.feo.org.fj/category/press-releases/
  3. You can also obtain the latest update on FEO activities on our Facebook Page ‘Fijian Elections Office’
Australia supporting the Electoral Commission on an independent audit of the National Register of Voters

Australia supporting the Electoral Commission on an independent audit of the National Register of Voters

by Electoral Commission

Today, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Mukesh Nand and Australian High Commissioner to Fiji John Feakes signed an agreement under which Australia will contribute FJD 258,000 to Fiji’s Electoral Commission to support the conduct of an independent audit of the National Register of Voters.  The independent audit was a recommendation of the Multinational Observer Group of the 2018 Fijian Election.

The audit, to be conducted by an independent organisation, will be scoped, commissioned, and overseen by the Electoral Commission, which is the custodian of Fiji’s National Register of Voters.  The audit will include an audit of procedures, an audit of IT systems and statistical testing to assess the quality of the voter register and voters list through the “list to voters” and/or the “people to list method”.   

Speaking at the signing ceremony, High Commissioner Feakes said “On the request of the Electoral Commission, Australia is pleased to provide a contribution to support its planned audit of the National Register of Voters. This will assist the Electoral Commission to implement a recommendation of the Multinational Observer Group of the 2018 Fijian Election.  Australia is providing funding directly to the Electoral Commission to conduct this work.  The Audit will be commissioned and managed by the Electoral Commission”. 

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Mukesh Nand added “The audit aims to support the Electoral Commission to make a determination on the manner in which the FEO is maintaining the Register, and where necessary provide relevant direction to the FEO to improve the manner in which the Register is kept.”

The Electoral Commission has conducted a call for expressions of interest from suitably experienced firms and expects to announce results of the procurement process shortly. 

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Use of Name on Certificate of Citizenship for Verification of Name

by Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission, having held a meeting on 17 March 2022, has approved that in cases where a voter who is a citizen of Fiji but born outside of Fiji and does not have a birth certificate from the country of birth but carries a valid Certificate of Citizenship can be registered by the Fijian Elections Office as a voter by using the name on the Certificate of Citizenship.

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Please forward all media queries to the FEO Communications team at communications@feo.org.fj

Commencement of Campaign Period

by Electoral Commission

In accordance with Section 109A of the Electoral Act 2014, the Electoral Commission, following their meeting today has determined that the campaign period for the 2022 General Election shall commence on 26 April 2022 and end 48 hours prior to the date of the General Election as announced by the President.

The meeting took place this morning at the Fijian Elections Office headquarters in Toorak and in attendance were Commission Chairperson Mr Mukesh Nand and Commissioners; Mr Jawahar Lal, Ms Kavita Raniga, Ms Selina Lee Wah, Mrs Margot Jenkins, Mr Simione Naiduki and Ms Ateca Ledua.

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Please forward all media queries to the FEO Communications team at communications@feo.org.fj

Statement from the Electoral Commission

by Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission received an appeal under section 30 of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013 on 24 February 2022 from HOPE (Humanity Opportunity Prosperity Equality). HOPE appealed the decision of the Registrar of Political Parties for deregistering the party.

The Electoral Commission invited HOPE leader Ms. Tupou Draunidalo and the Registrar of Political Parties on 25 February 2022 to present their submissions to the Electoral Commission.

After considering submissions from both the HOPE leader Ms. Tupou Draunidalo and the Registrar of Political Parties, the Electoral Commission made the decision to dismiss the appeal.

The decision can be accessed from the EC website: https://www.electoralcommission.org.fj/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Decision-of-the-appeal.pdf

 

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Statement from the Electoral Commission

by Electoral Commission

Members of the Electoral Commission, Mr. Simione Naiduki, Mr. Jay Lal, Mrs. Kavita Raniga, Mrs Margot Jenkins and Ms. Selina Lee Wah wish to advise members of the public, particularly Fiji Times and Mahendra Chaudhary of FLP that the Electoral Commission continues to operate and discharge its roles and functions under the Fijian Constitution and Electoral laws.

We therefore correct claims by Mahendra Chaudhry when he said in today’s Fiji Times that due to the absence of a Chair, the EC is not operating at the moment.

Under section 5 of the Electoral Act, a quorum is formed by at least 4 members of the Commission and as such the roles and functions of EC continue to be discharged.

The EC expected Fiji Times to properly verify this information before publishing it. While the EC members work on part time basis, the FEO operates a full time secretariat headed by the SoE which could have facilitated clarifications if only Fiji Times would have checked.

The EC urges news organizations and political parties to exercise diligence when making such reports and statements.

Authorised by

Commissioners: Simione Naiduki, Jay Lal, Kavita Raniga, Margot Jenkins and Selina Lee Wah

Electoral Commission calls for Expression of Interest for the Audit of the National Register of Voters

by Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission will be advertising for expressions of interest from reputable firms, agencies and organizations that can conduct the audit of the National Register of Voters in Fiji.

The expression of interest for the audit of the National Register of Voters will be open for 21 days ending on 24 November 2021 at 4pm. The Electoral Commission anticipates that organizations with experience and knowledge in this regard both locally and internationally will be keen to undertake the exercise.

Electoral Commission Chairperson Mr. Suresh Chandra says “The Multinational Observer Group from the 2018 General Election recommended that the Electoral Commission should consider an audit of the voter list. We have had that as part of our long term plan and since the election is very near it will be ideal to conduct an audit so that the voter list can be audited just as we enter the election phase.”

The voter list audit will be based on internationally accepted principles of audit of voter lists which includes lists to voter and voter to lists analysis as well as any other general recommendations.

Mr. Chandra explained that a panel of assessors made up of Electoral Commissioners will determine the institution or organization that will ultimately undertake the audit of the voter list.


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Link: EOI National Register of Voters

Please forward all media queries to the FEO Communications team at communications@feo.org.fj

Electoral Commission approves format for the Provisional Voter Lists

by Electoral Commission

Electoral Commission approves format for the Provisional Voter Lists

The Electoral Commission [EC] at its virtual meeting today has approved the format for the Provisional Voter List to be distributed to the Turaga-ni-Koros, Advisory Councilors and Political Parties as per Section 40 of the Electoral Act, 2014.

The Supervisor of Elections [SoE] is required under Section 40 of the Electoral Act, 2014 to publish the Provisional Voter List for each Polling Station as approved by the Electoral Commission on or before the 30th of September each year except for an Election year.

For the year 2021, the EC has approved that the format welcomes comments from the Turaga-ni-Koros and Advisory Councilors to verify the names of voters from Polling Stations in their villages or settlements.

The EC has further considered providing the copies of the Provisional Voter Lists to Political Parties. It has approved that the Provisional Voter List for Polling Stations will be given in Electronic copies for free to every registered Political Party in Fiji, so that they are able to peruse the list and provide feedback to the FEO for any corrections or issues they have identified.

The EC considers this as a very important step towards transparency as well as verifiability of the Voter Lists in the next General Election. As such, the EC urges all Political Parties to thoroughly analyze the list and present the FEO with responses so that the list that will be used in the next General Elections, is as accurate as possible.

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, says that Political Parties are important Stakeholders in the Election and including them in processes such as the verification of the Provisional Voter List will help strengthen cooperation and ensure that information used for the next General Election is accurate and up to date.

 

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Please forward all media queries to the FEO Communications team at communications@feo.org.fj

Statement from the Chair of The Electoral Commission

by Electoral Commission

Statement from the Chair of The Electoral Commission

Mr Suresh Chandra

The Electoral Commission welcomes the announcement by the Attorney General and the Minister responsible for Elections that the government is now considering amending the Electoral (Registration of Voters) Act 2012 as well as other consequent legislation so as to ensure the registration in the National Register of Voters is done based on records that are maintained officially at other agencies of Government.

The Electoral Commission recognizes that the right to Free and Fair elections is guaranteed under the Fijian Constitution cannot be properly executed until and unless the Voter List that is to be used in the national election is free from error, correct and the same can be verified against other relevant documents and official sources.

“To this end the Electoral Commission has always supported the Fijian Elections Office in its endeavors to match and verify details of voters against other registries in Fiji. We understand that the Court in a recent judgement has made findings which allows registration of individuals with details that may not be found directly from official sources,” said Chair,

“Whilst, we respect the decision of the Court, the Electoral Commission as the institution that is responsible for the conduct of a free and fair election in accordance with the laws of Fiji, the Electoral Commission is also concerned that the same might set a precedent where people may enroll themselves in the National Register using pseudo names and names that we are not able to verify. This may result in issues on Election Day where the names may not be found and may also result in abuse of the voter card as a universal ID when people apply for financial services and government services etc…”

The Electoral Commission is concerned about the paramount credibility of the voter register and as such the Electoral Commission welcomes and supports the current efforts by government to amend the electoral legislation to ensure that the voter list remains accurate, complete and verifiable.

The Electoral Commission will review the proposed amendment and provide its comments once it is received. 

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Please forward all media queries to the FEO Communications team at communications@feo.org.fj

173 to be the first number on the Ballot Paper for the next General Election

by Electoral Commission

Statement from the Secretary to The Electoral Commission

Mr Mohammed Saneem

15 July 2021- 11am

173 to be the first number on the Ballot Paper for the next General Election

The Electoral Commission this morning conducted a ball draw to determine the first 3-digit number that will appear on the ballot paper for the next general election.

The number draw is pursuant to Section 36(2) (c) of the Electoral Act 2014. The Act outlines that the Electoral Commission is required to approve the first three (3) digit number of the Ballot paper for the 2022 General Election.

The event was attended by members of political parties including the Party Leader for Social Democratic Liberal Party as well as the Acting President of the Fiji Labour Party with other stakeholders tuning in to the live event.

The event was also witnessed by a Police Officer from the Fiji Police Force.

At its meeting earlier this morning, the Electoral Commission had approved that the ballot paper for the next election will start with the series 100, so the first number in the 3-digit number would be one (1) followed by two (2) digits that were drawn randomly from the barrel by the Chairperson.

The Commission members all attended the draw virtually and witnessed the event. They authorized that at the end of the draw the Chairperson would announce the three (3) digits as approved by the Commission for the next general election.

As announced by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, the first three (3) digit number to appear on the ballot paper for the 2022 General Election will be 173.

After the draw, a sample of the ballot paper with about 200 candidates for the next general election was demonstrated to political representatives that had attended as well as on the live platforms.

The next general election can be held between 9th July 2022 and 9th January 2023.

Ends.