Media Handbook, Provisional Voter List and Provisional Polling Venue List launched for this year’s general election

Electoral Commission and the Fijian Elections Office today launched the Media Handbook, the Provisional Voter List and the Provisional Polling Venue List for this year’s general election.

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Suresh Chandra says that the Fijian Elections Office has compiled all these responsibilities in booklets to assist the media and the candidates to understand their roles within the process.

Chandra says that they believe that once all stakeholders beef up their capacities on elections, it will contribute to the enhancement of the credibility of the elections.

He says the concept of free and fair election does not only rest with the Electoral Commission but is the responsibility of every stakeholder and in this case, free and fair elections mean political parties, voters and the media must conform firstly to the legal principles.

Chandra says the Candidates Handbook is designed and produced in the major languages as well, to assist any potential candidate to understand the candidate requirements, the legal requirements as well as the process for elections.

He says the Media Handbook, of course, is only in English to facilitate media organizations in understanding the process and what they can and what they cannot cover.

Chandra says the election may be held between April and November this year and it is a good thing that they have managed to produce some of these essential capacity building material.

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission says this is the first time they are able to produce the first provisional voter list, months away from an election.

Chandra says this is to assist Fijians to ascertain where they will be voting and in the event changes are necessary, they can do so.

He says another publication being launched is the 2018 Provisional Polling Venue List.

Chandra confirms that there were 1361 polling venues in 2014 and the numbers have increased to 1435 after assessments of polling venues.

He says the materials and content for all publications have been well researched and thoroughly verified to be authentic, apolitical and transparent.

He says the Commissioners have had the opportunity to sight the materials and they are impressed by the simplicity of the content especially since the material will be available for anyone to use.