The Fijian Elections Office has acknowledged the factcheck finding by Australian Associated Press in relation to the information that is being spread in Fiji regarding the presence of the National Database & Registration Authority and the conduct of election in Fiji by NADRA as false and unjustified.
Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem says they note that on numerous occasions, politicians, their representatives and political party officials have falsely made claims that NADRA was present in Fiji, that NADRA was conducting elections, and that NADRA was involved in vote counting or results.
He says this is absolutely incorrect and the FEO emphasizes that the engagement with NADRA for the supply of the election management system ended in 2017.
Saneem says at all times the FEO has thoroughly explained that the election management system is a basic tracking software for election logistics and material and they have conducted several demonstrations of the same as well.
The Supervisor says it is rather unfortunate that a factcheck agency based outside of Fiji has to come and determine this matter when the same has been the position of FEO all this while and the fact that individuals continue to propagate such misinformation in the election only confirms their intention to mislead Fijians and create tension in an environment so as to disrupt the normal functioning of the electoral process.
He adds Fijians need to be mindful of all those people who are spreading this information and the credibility of the information that they are publishing.
The Australian Associated Press (AAP) FactCheck are a third-party fact-checking partner with Meta (owners of Facebook) and work to limit misinformation online particularly on social media.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network
