Alvick Maharaj continues with his appeal process against FijiFirst deregistration

Opposition MP, Alvick Maharaj is still trying to keep the deregistered FijiFirst Party alive as he has appealed the deregistration by the Supervisor of Elections.

He confirms that he has already had a meeting with the Electoral Commission, and he has also provided a written submission before meeting the commission again today.

When asked on why he has appealed the deregistration, Maharaj says as being part of the FijiFirst for the past 10 years, he believes the party has a responsibility to represent its voters under the party banner in parliament.

Maharaj told fijivillage News he does not see the rationale why the former FijiFirst executives deserted the voters in the way they did by resigning.

He says all he is trying to do is to save the party to restore the trust of the voters and have a united front in parliament.

Maharaj is the only Opposition MP who is yet to decide on whether he will join the Opposition Bloc of 16 led by Opposition Leader, Inia Seruiratu or the Opposition Bloc of 9 led by Independent MP, Ioane Naivalurua.

The FijiFirst Party was de-registered by the Registrar of Political Parties, Ana Mataiciwa on July 1st.

Mataiciwa de-registered FijiFirst in accordance with section 12(4) of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act.

This was prompted by a complaint lodged by former FijiFirst MP and now an independent, Mosese Bulitavu who alleged that FijiFirst had breached its own constitution by not allowing its Parliamentary Leader to participate in the Leadership Committee meetings. In trying to refer Bulitavu to an internal party dispute resolution in the FijiFirst Constitution, Mataiciwa noted that FijiFirst did not have any such provision.

As a requirement of the Political Parties Act, the contents of a Party Constitution must comply with Schedule 2 of the Act.

On Thursday 30th May 2024, FijiFirst was notified to amend its constitution to include provisions required under Schedule 2 of the Act.

The party was given until 4pm on Friday 28th June 2024, to make the necessary amendments.

Mataiciwa said as the party had not complied with this requirement, FijiFirst had been de-registered effective immediately, in accordance with section 12(4) of the Act.

Following the de-registration, section 20(1) of the Act stipulates that no person shall summon a meeting of members or officers of the political party other than for the purposes of winding up the political party or for the purposes of challenging the deregistration of the political party; attend or make a person attend a meeting in the capacity of a member or officer of the political party; and publish a notice or advertisement relating to a meeting of the political party except for the purposes of a meeting to wind up the party.

Mataiciwa adds that pursuant to section 30(1) of the Act, any person aggrieved by the decision to de-register FijiFirst may appeal to the Electoral Commission within 14 days from the date of this decision.

If no appeal is lodged with the commission by the end of the 14-day appeal period, the Registrar will commence the winding-up process.

fijivillage News has been trying to get the comments from the Electoral Commission from last month. They are yet to respond.