The Fijian Elections Office launched the Your Election, your Say Outreach - Phase 2 today and will from tomorrow deploy teams around Fiji and the world.
Supervisor of Elections, Ana Mataiciwa says as they continue preparations for the upcoming electoral processes, one of their most important responsibilities at the FEO is to ensure that every eligible Fijian has access to voter services and equally important access to accurate, impartial and timely electoral information.
Mataiciwa says during this phase, their teams will travel to villages and communities across the country, visit workplaces through their business house registration platform and reach our Fijian diasporas in the United States of America, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and France.
She says across Fiji, they will have 13 teams deployed in the Central Division, 11 teams in the Northern Division, 13 teams in the Eastern Division and 13 teams in the Western Division.
Tne Supervisor of Elections says these teams will assist with voter registration matters, provide voter services, answer questions, and importantly, provide accurate and impartial information about the electoral processes.
She says at the same time, their overseas teams will be reaching out to Fijians living abroad, ensuring that distance does not become a barrier to accessing the information and voter services available from the Fijian Elections Office.
Mataiciwa says their business registration portal is also now active on their website, encouraging businesses and organizations to take advantage of these services and allow their teams to bring voter registration and awareness services directly to their workplace.
She says people can get election ready without even leaving the office, as they also recognize that not everyone can visit their offices or meet one of their teams in the field.
The Supervisor says that is why they continue to explore practical ways of making their services more accessible.
She says for Vodafone users, the Fijian Elections Office now has a toll free number 1500 which users can call from Monday to Thursday between 8am and 4.30pm and on Friday from 8am to 4pm.
Mataiciwa says if people want to know their polling venue, just simply text their voter card number to 1500 to obtain their polling venue details.
She says for digital users, the FEO is currently working with Digicel to establish a similar platform so that Digicel customers can also access these services.
Once this platform is ready, Mataiciwa says they will provide the necessary information to Digicel users.
She is encouraging Fijians to ask the teams when they come to your communities, visit our voter services centers, call us through the channels available to you and importantly, rely on information issued through the official and verified platforms of the Fijian Elections Office.
Mataiciwa says there may also be occasions when you ask them a question and the information is not yet available or has not yet been confirmed, when that happens, they will tell you.
She says they will not speculate and will not provide information simply for the sake of providing an answer, where something remains to be confirmed, they will make that clear, and once that information becomes available, they will bring it to you.
The Supervisor says from tomorrow, whether you are in a village, a town or city, at your workplace or living thousands of kilometers away from home, the FEO's objective remains the same and that is to bring accurate electoral information and voter services closer to you.
She says they want every eligible Fijian to know where to go, who to ask and where to obtain accurate information about the electoral process.
Mataiciwa adds their teams are coming to you, their services are becoming more accessible and information will continue to be available through the channels you can trust.
