A $20,000 annual political donation limit by a Fijian citizen or former Fijian citizen has been set after the passing of the Political Parties Registration Conduct Funding Disclosures Amendment Bill in Parliament late last night.
The Bill after consultations by the Parliamentary Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights stated that any person who is a Fijian citizen or a former Fijian citizen shall not make any political donation to a political party or to a candidate for election to Parliament (or to any person on behalf of the political party who is involved in the administration of the affairs of the political party
including any office holder of the political party, or to any person on behalf of the candidate) of an amount exceeding $20,000 in any one year (whether to one or more registered political parties or candidates).
The previous law stated that any person who is not a Fijian citizen or a former Fijian citizen, shall not make a political donation to any political party or candidate for election to Parliament.
According to the new law, this limitation has been removed.
The section remains on a political party or a candidate for election to Parliament (or any person on behalf of the political party who is involved in the administration of the affairs of the political party including any office holder of the political party, or any person on behalf of the candidate) who receives any political donation from a foreign government, inter-governmental or non-governmental organisation, or multilateral agency, commits an offence and shall be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both.
It has also been stated in the new law that during the period commencing on the first day of the campaign period until the 60th day after the polling day — a candidate (whether an independent candidate or a political party candidate) must not spend more than $100,000 on his or her election campaign; and a political party must not spend more than $4 million on its election campaign.
The expenditure limits set out include any income pledged, or expenditure incurred outside the prescribed period for use within the prescribed period; and any gift given by a candidate or political
party during the campaign period to a village or community group as a protocol (or similar) solely to
obtain permission to enter the territory of a village or community group, and such gift must be
included in the declarations.
The Bill also states that a candidate (whether elected to Parliament or not) must, not later
than the 60th day after the polling day, provide to the Registrar in writing — the amount of money received by him or her from the commencement of the campaign period until the 60th day after the polling day; the amount and source of donation received by him or her from the commencement of the campaign period until the 60th day after the polling day; and the campaign expenditure from the commencement of the campaign period until the 60th day after the polling day.
