Overseas voters did not know they had to apply for postal voting in 2022 general elections – Acting SOE

Acting Supervisor of Elections, Ana Mataiciwa says they did not do more awareness in educating overseas voters about postal voting and many voters did not even know they had to apply for postal voting.

While responding to questions by Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lenora Qereqeretabua after presenting the 2021-2022 annual report to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights, Mataiciwa says one of the loopholes they saw while reviewing the 2022 general elections was the process of applying for postal voting.

Mataiciwa says while reviewing the process they discovered issues such as the time spent on printing, trying to look for shops to print and fill those documents, notary public overseas are expensive as well as scanning it and sending it through.

The Acting Supervisor of Elections says they have noted that before Fijians leave for work under the National Employment Centre, they have workshops done by the Ministry of Employment and those are the areas the FEO can come in and do their registration.

Mataiciwa says they also have to bear in mind that when you register you automatically do not become a postal voter when you reside overseas.

She says they are trying to streamline postal voting processes for the next general elections.