Nomination time is now over for the proposed elections candidates and the Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem will now assess the nominations before deciding on the eligibility of the candidates.
As 29 days remain for the elections, the proposed candidates and parties had to meet the deadline of midday today to be considered for the polls.
Nomination forms accompanied by deposits of $1,000 for each party candidate and $1,000 for each independent candidate, had to be delivered to the Elections Office.
Independent candidates also had to present a list of 1,000 supporters with their nomination forms.
Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem will now assess the nominations before deciding on the eligibility of the candidates.
Saneem said the list of candidates will be known tomorrow.
He said the National Candidates List will be finalized in three days time.
The FijiFirst submitted the names of their proposed candidates last Friday.
The Social Democratic Liberal Party, the People’s Democratic Party and the National Federation Party each submitted their 50 proposed names today.
The Fiji Labour Party has submitted 42 names to the Elections Office.
This includes FLP Leader Mahendra Chaudhry’s name who is ineligible to contest the elections due to his conviction.
The proposed independent candidates who have put in their nominations are Roshika Deo and a businessman from Nuku village, Umesh Chand.
According to the Electoral Decree, the nominations of independent candidates and party candidates must be displayed and published on the day following the close of nominations for the elections.
The 2013 constitution sets the eligibility criteria for the candidates for election to parliament.
It states that a person may be a candidate only if the person is a citizen of Fiji, does not hold citizenship of any other country, is registered on the Register of Voters, is not an un-discharged bankrupt, is not subject to a sentence of imprisonment when nominated and has not at any time during the eight years immediately before being nominated been convicted of any offence under any law for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more.
Political parties cannot nominate more candidates than the total number of seats in parliament.
Meanwhile, Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry said they only filed 42 candidates’ names because they are concentrating on certain areas.
When questioned on his ineligibility to contest the elections due to his conviction, Chaudhry said he will not give up.
National Federation Party General Secretary Kamal Iyer said their nominations have been accepted and they are confident none of their nominations will be rejected.
Social Democratic Liberal Party General Secretary Pio Tabaiwalu said they are confident that all their nominations will be approved.
The OneFiji Party filed 14 nominations today.
OneFiji General Secretary Sitiveni Kalou said they only managed to file 14 names as some could not get their documents sorted.
The Fiji United Freedom Party only filed 5 nominations but one was rejected as that person did not have the voter registration card.
Still on the elections:
You can join our News Director Vijay Narayan on our special general elections talkbacks called Straight Talk from 7 tonight on our sister stations Viti FM and Radio Sargam.
Our guest on the show tonight is the President of Fiji United Freedom Party, Jagath Karunaratne.
Join us tonight and you can also call and ask the Political Party Leaders and their representatives questions on issues that matter to you as we approach the September 17th general elections.
Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations