‘There’s no such thing as an official provisional candidate in the law as the Fiji Elections Office will only confirm the candidates after the official process.’
This has been highlighted by the Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem.
Saneem says that until and unless the Writ of Elections is issued and nominations are received, no one is a Fijian Elections Office approved candidate.
He adds that their office has noted an increase in the number of announcements by the political parties as well as expressions of interest by individuals in taking up candidate positions in the election.
Saneem also says following the General Audit of all political parties except for Unity Fiji as they have registered this year, a common feature for most of the parties is that there is a lack of tracking in terms of records of revenue obtained by the parties.
It was highlighted by the Supervisor of Elections that a person is only allowed to donate upto $10,000 to either one party or to many parties.
Saneem says if a person does not have receipts for the money donated then they may find themselves in some legal problems if the Fijian Elections Office receives a complaint.
He states they have noticed an increase in political activities in terms of fundraising, collections, donations and other types of activities in trying to obtain financial assistance for the political party’s campaign.
Saneem says the candidates have to declare their income and assets post the election and therefore it is important for them to know what the legal frame work is.
