SEEP encourages youths to pay attention beyond the mud-slinging and gauge who best represents their values and political ideologies in this year’s elections

Young Fijians have the power of social media to speak, to describe what Fiji they are looking forward to, what type of leadership they want and they are encouraged to pay attention beyond the mud-slinging and do their research, analyze party and candidate manifestos, and attend political rallies to gauge who best represents their values and political ideologies and to make an informed choice.

This has been highlighted by Social Empowerment Education Program Director, Chantelle Khan in her Fiji Day message.

She says let us prepare for our nation’s elections this Fiji Day to demand better leaders, better manifestos, and more concrete strategies on how these will be achieved including sound economic policies.

Khan also says let us no longer settle for mediocre self-serving politicians, petty politics, and vanua connections to choose who will lead this nation.

The Director says after 52 years of independence, 4.5 coups, and 12 elections since independence, all Fijians have a tremendous opportunity before us with the coming elections to choose how this country will go forward.

Khan also says despite the continuous delay in announcing the Writ of Elections, let us not be distracted from preparing for our elections as it is our right as citizens to choose who will lead us after 4 years and let us be reminded that elections are about hope.

Khan says their message is nation building toward an inclusive, accessible, and participatory election.

She says their ongoing work with community collaborators are on increasing practices of democracy from the community level, training aimed to encourage collaborators to participate in their community processes of decision-making including electing their office bearers and then holding them to account throughout their term.

Khan says this flows on to encouraging all community collaborators to continue into national-level elections with the same principles of transparency and accountability toward nation-building.

She says it should start from the grassroots and especially when there continues to be gaps in our national level leadership.

Khan adds they acknowledge and celebrate this Fiji Day, where we have come from, where we seem stagnated, and the hope that the election holds for a better nation.