We need more youths to be involved with the political process – Tabuya

People’s Alliance Deputy Leader, Lynda Tabuya says it is very important for young people to be involved in the political process and is encouraging youths to come out in numbers and exercise their democratic right on December 14th.

Tabuya was commenting on the low voter turnout of young people during the 2018 General Election.

The voter turnout survey found the age group of 21 to 30 years old constituted the highest percentage of registered voters for any age group but they had the lowest turnout.

The survey reports that a total of 148,436 voters between the age of 21 to 30 registered to vote however only 89,670 people voted on the day.

While speaking at the Your Vote Matters Project hosted by the University of the South Pacific, The Pacific Community Principal Strategic Lead and former Minister for Women, Mereseini Rakuita says this is also the highest age co-hort for USP students right now and it was also this age group from 21 to 30 years that recorded the lowest voter turnout in 2018.

When asked on what is the People’s Alliance doing to encourage youths to come out to vote during the elections, Tabuya says she was using the Rock the Vote Fiji to encourage and educate youths on the importance of voting.

Meanwhile Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem has stated that when you look at the 2014 and 2018 general elections, there have been massive attempts to discredit the process which brings disrepute to the process and struggling attempts to try and bring disrepute to the Fijian Elections Office.