India stands ready to assist Fiji in the upcoming Local Government elections.
Indian High Commissioner to Fiji Palaniswamy Subramanyan Karthigeyan said while they had not received any requests thus far, they were willing to assist Fiji if needed.
“Certainly, we would be very open and as the world’s largest and most vibrant democracy, we have considerable expertise in this area,” Mr Karthigeyan said.
“As you know, India is going to have general elections within the year. That will be the largest electoral process in the entire world and not just that, we have a lot of experience in local body elections.
“For the last 30 years, we have had three-tier elected local body structure and we have good experience.”
He said the Indian government had worked together with the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) and the Fiji Government in this area, especially in the past national elections, through the provision of indelible ink and vehicles.
India was also one of the co-chairs of the Multinational Observer Group (MOG).
“Though we have not really received any request and not started anything specific to the local body elections, I’m sure we will have an opportunity to work if there is interest and request from the Fijian side.”
