FORMER youth candidate in the 2014 General Election, Jone Rasi, says he faced a lot of challenges during his time as a contender to join Fiji’s Parliament.
Speaking during a seminar focusing on the role of election in a democracy, Mr Rasi said he joined the 2014 election to be the voice for the youths, women, children and people with disabilities.
He said a majority of challenges came in the form of logistics including accessing appropriate financial support to fund his campaign.
“We also had very little time to reach out to members of the community,” he said.
Mr Rasi claimed they were stopped from starting their campaigning earlier and had to work within the given timeframe.
Additionally, he said if more time had been given for campaigning and reaching out, they could have seen a different result.
“If there was more time given, we would have made a difference as there was limited time for campaigning. We would have had more chances to speak to the community and reach out to more members.”
The seminar was also attended by Prof Jon Fraenkel from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
