Update: 12:41PM The Fijian Elections Office has rejected 12 candidate nominations from political parties contesting the September 17 polls.
The Fiji Labour Party had the
highest number of candidates being excluded from contesting the much-awaited
elections.
They included party leader Mahendra
Chaudhry, Steven Singh, Vijay Singh, Mohammed Tahir and Arvin Dutt.
In an interview yesterday, Chaudhry
said they were told that Mr Dutt and Mr Tahir did not meet residential
qualifications, while Vijay Singh and Steven Singh, as well as Chaudhry, had
previous convictions.
“We have appealed the decision
of the Supervisor of Elections in the Electoral Commission this afternoon
(yesterday) so we are awaiting the outcome,” Chaudhry said.
“We will wait and see. We have
done our part and we will wait for them to do theirs.”
The People’s Democratic Party
general secretary Aman Ravindra-Singh said they were informed yesterday that
four of their candidates had been dropped and they had filed appeals to the rejections.
“All candidates are important
and the Elections Office feels that four of ours did not meet their
requirements and this was why they were dropped,” Mr Singh said.
“We will now await the
Electoral Commission to come back to us.”
National Federation Party leader
Professor Biman Prasad said they had only one candidate being rejected.
This was Fredrick Work who had a
previous conviction, however, Mr Prasad said the team remained credible.
The Fiji United Freedom Party had
only one candidate rejected and this was Jagath Karunaratne.
The Social Democratic Liberal Party
has also confirmed filing an appeal for the review of the rejection of Anare
Jale’s nomination to contest the election.
Electoral Commission chairman Chenn
Bunn Young said the Electoral Commission must make a decision on application
within three days of the receipt of the application.
He said the decision of the
candidate will be notified to the candidate and the Supervisor of Elections.
