Acting Prime Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum stresses that the government has taken a principled approach to laws and is not targeting anyone in particular in the new Registration of Political Parties Decree.
Following statements by a number of parties and unionists who claim that they have been singled out to either be a union or a party executive, Sayed-Khaiyum said the new law will even affect Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama if he wants to be a party executive.
Fiji Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry who is also the General Secretary of the National Farmers Union has said in a statement that he believes the 28 days time limit set to satisfy the various requirements for the re-registration of current parties are unreasonable and are designed to prevent them from re-registering.
He said the requirement to obtain 5000 signatures from the people in all parts of Fiji within 28 days and to pay $5,005 as registration fee is to make it patently difficult for existing parties to re-register.
However Sayed-Khaiyum said parties that have been claiming that they have the support of the people will not have any problems in getting the signatures and the registration fee is calculated on $1 per member.
He also said many of these individuals may be upset because they can no longer use the unions for their political interests and many may be hesitant to declare their assets and liabilities publicly as required under the new decree.
Story by: Vijay Narayan & Sneh Chaudhry
