SUPERVISOR of Elections Mohammed Saneem says that Fiji Labour Party (FLP) leader Mahendra Chaudhry has not provided any evidence of his claims that the 2014 General Elections was rigged.
Mr Saneem yesterday called a press conference to respond to claims made by Mr Chaudhry on Thursday during a press conference in Suva in the presence of five political party leaders.
Mr Chaudhry said FLP president Lavinia Padarath voted at a polling station but did not get any votes when the results came out in 2014.
“Mrs Padarath cast her vote at her polling station in 2014. She voted for herself. When the results came out, she did not get a single vote from that polling station. That is one very good example of how the 2014 elections were rigged,” Mr Chaudhry claimed yesterday.
When refuting the claims during a separate press conference on Thursday night, Mr Saneem demanded that Mr Chaudhry to provide evidence of his claim or give an apology to the people of Fiji. He also gave Mr Chaudhry time until midday yesterday to do this.
Using the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) app on his mobile phone, Mr Saneem offered evidence that a vote for Mrs Padarath had been recorded at her polling station.
Mr Saneem in his subsequent press conference yesterday afternoon presented what he said was further evidence to back up the results he had shown to the media during a FEO press conference on Thursday night on his mobile phone.
The evidence presented by Mr Saneem yesterday was an excel sheet of the 2014 General Elections results showing the numbers from the polling station that Mrs Padarath voted at.
“Nothing has been provided to us which only leads to the fact that this information was incorrect and falsely made,” Mr Saneem said.
Mr Saneem added that there was a vote there for Lavinia Padarath from the polling station refuting Mr Chaudhry’s claims.
However, he said he could not confirm who voted for her.
He added that the one vote could also be seen by people on the Fijian Elections Office app.
When asked if any further action would be taken, Mr Saneem replied that it was for the people of Fiji to understand about the misleading comments made by the political parties.
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