International IDEA should do its own fact checking and not blame us for a poorly written report - Saneem

Supervisor of Elections and Registrar of Political Parties Mohammed Saneem says International IDEA or whoever commissioned the Political Finance Assessment of Fiji Report should do its own fact-checking and ensure it applies a high standard of research.

Saneem says their business is to organize and conduct elections in Fiji and International IDEA cannot be blaming the Elections Office for the poorly written report.

This is following a statement by International IDEA’s Senior Programme Manager, Adhy Aman who says Saneem had opportunities to contribute to and review the report at several junctures: during the interview phase, the validation workshop, and the draft review process in the weeks prior to finalisation of the report.

Aman says they provided Saneem with a copy of the draft report on 11th August 2021 and sent a reminder exactly two weeks later on 25th August 2021.

He says they never received any feedback until 7th November – almost a month after publication.

Aman further says the report was first published on International IDEA’s website on 10th October 2021.

However, Saneem says it is not for the Elections Office to be the fact-checker on a document they did not even commission.

He says International IDEA released the document in early October 2021 but they still do not explain why it was not formally conveyed to the Fijian Elections Office. Saneem says when they highlighted so many issues with the document, International IDEA is blaming everything else except their own actions.

The Registrar also says International IDEA told FBC that the document is political and he does not need to add anything further.

Saneem adds there are serious issues and lack of context in the document and it is necessary for International IDEA to look at its publication with an apolitical objective.

Meanwhile, Aman had earlier said that the research team displayed due diligence and provided opportunities for correction at every step within the constraints of the pandemic and inability to travel.

He also says International IDEA is committed to correcting any errors accordingly, but it needs to be preceded by a thorough and careful check.