The Electoral Commission along with the Fijian Elections Office has today announced that nomination for candidates to contest the 2022 General Election is now open.
Chair of the Electoral Commission, Mukesh Nand said the nomination period for the receipt of the nomination of candidates for the general election will be from 8am on 01 of November 2022 to 12pm on 14 November 2022.
He said all nominations should be delivered to the elections office at St. Stephen’s building in Suva.
Nand also said there are two types of nomination forms for the 2022 general election.
“Form One is for independent candidate nominations, and form two is for political party candidate nominations. Both of these forms can be accessed from the Fijian Elections Office website. Ladies and gentlemen nomination forms will be accompanied by a deposit of $1000 (US$500) for each party candidate.”
Nand said those who want to register their nomination as an independent candidate. must also present a list of 1000 supporters in the approved form along with the nomination for any candidate who wishes to withdraw his or her nomination form.
“Once the nomination period has ended, the supervisor of elections will proceed to vet all applications and decide whether an independent nomination or party nomination has met all the criteria in order to be approved as a candidate for the 2022 general election.”
The Electoral Chair said approved list of candidates for the 2022 general election will then be displayed as a place of nomination.
He said objections to any candidate nominations and appeals to the decision of Supervisor of Elections must be received by the Electoral Commission no later than 4pm on 15 November 2022.
Nand said once these requirements have been met, any objections and appeals appropriately dealt with the Fijian Elections Office will proceed with the National candidates list.
As per Fiji’s Constitution and the Electoral Act 2014, to be eligible to contest the election, the nominee must be a citizen of Fiji, a registered voter, have been living in Fiji for at least two years immediately before being nominated, is not an undischarged bankrupt, is not a member of the Electoral Commission either now or in the last four years before being nominated, is not subject to a sentence of imprisonment when nominated, have not been convicted of any offence in the last eight years before being nominated for which the maximum penalty under the law is a prison term of 12 months or more, and has not been found guilty of any offence under a law relating to elections, registration of political parties or registration of voters, and does not hold a public office else their nomination will be considered invalid and they will be liable for a fine of up to $10,000(US$5,000) or a prison term of up to five years, or both.
In the 2018 election, there were no independent candidates. Two-hundred and thirty-five candidates from six political parties contested the election for 51 parliamentary seats.
SOURCE: FBC NEWS/MAI TV/PACNEWS
