Prospective election candidates in Fiji can now calculate vote targets, develop campaign strategies and budgets, prepare nomination documents and assess safety risks through a new digital platform launched by the Centre for Democracy & Dialogue (CDD).
The Empowering Fiji’s Women in Politics Candidate Hub was officially launched today by Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa, bringing together electoral education, campaign planning, mentoring and nine interactive tools designed for Fiji’s electoral environment.
CDD Chief Executive Officer Nilesh Lal says the platform is designed to help candidates move beyond general campaign plans and develop practical strategies based on the votes they need, available resources and time.
Lal says candidates can use the tools to assess their readiness, identify priority voter groups, estimate the number of people they need to reach and determine whether their campaign budgets and volunteer resources are sufficient.
The platform includes six learning modules covering Fiji’s political and electoral systems, candidate eligibility, media and communications, campaign finance and legal compliance, leadership, policy and public service.
Its nine interactive tools include a Personal Vote Target Calculator, Campaign Strategy Builder, Campaign Budget Builder, Candidate Readiness Assessment, Election Timeline Calculator, Candidate Eligibility Self-Check, Nomination Readiness Checklist, Campaign Message Builder and Women Candidate Safety Planner.
The Campaign Budget Builder allows candidates to identify funding and expenditure, assess cash flow, distinguish essential from optional spending and prepare campaign compliance records.
The Women Candidate Safety Planner helps users assess risks associated with physical safety, travel, online harassment, reputational attacks, public events and wellbeing. CDD says sensitive planning information in key tools remains in the user's browser rather than being stored by the organisation.
Although developed under CDD's programme to empower women in politics, the platform is publicly available to all prospective candidates and campaign teams.
Lal says the initiative aims to increase women's participation and electoral success while helping candidates across the political spectrum make better-informed decisions and comply with electoral laws.
Meanwhile, CDD also launched a 20-page toolkit titled AI & Your Campaign, which addresses the growing use of artificial intelligence in elections.
The Fiji-specific resource explains how candidates can identify and respond to deepfake videos and images, voice cloning, fabricated news sites, bot networks, false voter information and gender-based AI attacks.
It also outlines the SIFT verification method, provides a rapid-response framework for AI-related attacks and explains relevant reporting pathways and laws in Fiji.
The toolkit encourages candidates to use artificial intelligence responsibly for activities such as drafting campaign materials, analysing information, translation and multilingual communication.
Lal says candidates need to prepare for AI-related threats before manipulated content spreads among voters.
CDD is inviting registered political parties, prospective candidates and campaign teams to access the resources and seek demonstrations, technical briefings and training.
The Candidate Hub is available at cdd.org.fj/efwip-candidate-hub, while the AI toolkit can be accessed through CDD's publications portal.
