Saneem reveals why people did not vote in 2018 General Election

The Fijian Elections Office 2018 Voters Survey Report has revealed that people moving and not changing their polling venue was the most popular reason for not voting in the last General Election.

According to the report, there were 637,527 registered voters but only 443,455 voted.

Adverse weather conditions was another popular reason why people did not vote, followed by those not interested in politics and a third of the respondents who did not vote said they had voted.

Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem says they are taking a systematic approach to voters changing their details as it is a trend in Fiji for voters to get it sorted on the last day.

He says they plan to have a major drive next year where people can amend their details.

Meanwhile, more women voted in the 2018 General Election.

223,439 women and 220,016 men voted in the last elections.

The report states that the turnout for females in an election could be a key measure of accessibility to voting, as election management bodies have been striving to make voting accessible for the female voting population over the years.

It also states that this can be used as a measure of the security situation, and the last election was conducted in a peaceful environment.

According to the report, Police were present at every polling location to provide security and voters were able to attend and cast their votes without any threats or fear.