EIGHT political parties have been registered by the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) and are eligible to contest in the 2018 general election.
This was confirmed by the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Suresh Chandra during a press conference at the Fijian Elections Office today.
The eight parties are FijiFirst, Social Democratic Liberal Party, National Federation Party, Peoples Democratic Party, Fiji Labour Party, Unity Fiji Party, Hope Party and Freedom Alliance Party.
Mr Chandra said the voter registration closes at 6pm today and since the writ of election has been issued, the political party’s registration has also been closed.
He said the total number of registered voters as at September 17, 2018 stands at 634,120 out of which 314,686 are females and 319,434 are males.
He added that the 2014 general election achieved some milestones with 84 per cent voter turnout and 0.75 per cent of invalid votes.
Mr Chandra said they are optimistic that this year’s election will set a new bench mark.
Some important dates:
- October 2, 2018, the candidate nominations open at 8am
- October 15, 2018, the candidate nominations close at 12pm
- October 16, 2018, candidate nominations withdrawals by 12pm
- October 16, 2018, candidate nominations objections and appeals close by 4pm
- October 19, 2018, National candidate ball draw or earlier as determined by the Fijian Elections Office
- October 24, 2018, postal voting applications close by 5pm
- November 5, 2018, pre-poll voting begins
- November 10, 2018, pre-poll voting ends
- November 12, 2018, media blackout on campaigning commences at 7.30am
- November 14, 2018, is the Election Day and voting will be from 7.30am to 6pm and in the night the provisional results will be progressively released from 6pm
