Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem confirms that 272 candidates have been approved so far by the Fijian Elections Office.
Of that 272, 2 are independent candidates.
The deadline for candidate nominations is 12pm today.
New Generation Party nominated 5 candidates for the elections – 5 Approved, Fiji Labour Party nominated 44 candidates – 42 are approved, the National Federation Party has nominated 55 candidates – 54 are approved, FijiFirst nominated 55 candidates – 55 are approved, People’s Alliance nominated 55 candidates – 52 candidates approved, All People’s Party nominated 14 candidates – 13 approved, SODELPA nominated 53 candidates – 49 are approved, We Unite Fiji Party nominated 17 candidates – the applications are under process.
Unity Fiji has confirmed that they will be filing their nominations today.
According to the Fijian Constitution, a person may be a candidate for election to Parliament only if the person is a citizen of Fiji, and does not hold citizenship of any other country; is registered on the Register of Voters; is ordinarily resident in Fiji for at least 2 years immediately before being nominated; is not an undischarged bankrupt; is not a member of the Electoral Commission, and has not been a member of that Commission at any time during the 4 years immediately before being nominated; is not subject to a sentence of imprisonment when nominated; has not, at any time during the 8 years immediately before being nominated, been convicted of any offence under any law for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment 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.
Saneem says for some parties they have not rejected nominations, but rather asked for further information from the party headquarters in relation to various verifications that they have done, and once that information is received FEO will be able to finalise the nomination of candidates.
He adds for the parties that have been informed of their candidates being rejected, those parties are currently looking for replacements while some parties are still looking for further information from their candidates so they can fulfil the requirements of the act.
