Many claimed, and still claim, that the 2014 election was rigged. I don’t believe that.
That is the comment of Professor Jon Fraenkel of Victoria University of Wellington while speaking at the CCF Forum on the Role of Elections In Democracy at the University of the South Pacific.
Professor Fraenkel says the results made sense, and most of the opposition parties’ allegations in 2014 were hasty and unpersuasive.
He says that no disputed returns were filed in the High Court after the elections.
Professor Fraenkel also says that he sees no reason to doubt the Multinational Observer Group unofficial tally that found no greater variance than 2 percent as compared to the official tally.
However he says that the Multinational Observer Group deserves criticism for the haste with which it organized a press conference at 4pm on 18th September before even the completion of the count, to claim a credible election and an outcome on track to broadly represent the will of the Fijian voters, presumably so that the various statesmen and dignitaries who led the mission could rapidly depart the country.
Professor Fraenkel also says that all the elections he has witnessed in Fiji have featured opposition MPs claiming fraud, and ballot rigging, and they are often able to point to genuine irregularities but it is less usually obvious that these determined the election results.
He says defeat often comes as a surprise to politicians who have spent months on the campaign trail firmly convinced that they can expect to win.
Professor Fraenkel further says that politicians need time to adjust and reflect and consider why outcomes were as they were.
