The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights Alvick Maharaj has highlighted in Parliament that members of the public have commended and supported the Bill to Amend the Electoral Registration of Voters Act 2020.
The Bill will require that voters upgrade and get new voter cards and a registration drive is planned to commence in March 2022 to get eligible voters issued with the new voter card with polling venues stated on it.
While presenting the Committee’s Report on the Bill, Maharaj says this is because the amendment aims to promote good governance by making necessary changes to the election laws which has been a result of lessons learnt from the first two elections conducted under Fiji’s new electoral system.
He says apart from this there were also submissions that highlighted a few pertinent issues which the Committee placed reasonable emphasis on.
Maharaj says the submission noted that there was no need for alternative polling venues and that the issue was on the actual voter registration list and data used in the 2018 election.
He says for example some people in the last elections were registered to vote in Nukuloa in Gau but actually lived in Nukuloa, Ra.
Maharaj adds concerns raised by the general public was on the number of venues where they can get registered and the requirement of original certificates to be presented to obtain the new voter card.
He says with regards to the amendment, there is no need for adding an alternative polling venue.
Maharaj says people also insisted that given that the proposed law will make it mandatory for voters to upgrade and get new voter cards, that voter registration should be conducted in the villages, settlements and communities.
Debate on the Bill will be done at a later stage.
