Were the 2014 and 2018 elections free and fair?
This was one of the questions posed by prominent local lawyer and former Supervisor of Elections, Jon Apted said as he labelled Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s criticism of counsel who represented politician Niko Nawaikula – and the Supervisor of Elections and the Attorney-General – “baseless and unfair”.
He said voters in Fiji, the Commonwealth, and the United States, have always been allowed to register and vote under their everyday names, instead of the names on their birth certificates.
“Is the A-G suggesting that elections have never been free and fair in England, Australia, New Zealand, the USA – and in Fiji, including in 2014 and 2018?” he asked.
“How could the A-G’s counsel argue that allowing voters to use a name that was not on their birth certificate would breach the Constitution when that would imply that the elections in 2014 and 2018 which the A-G and his party won were not free and fair?”
He said Mr Nawaikula’s case before the Court of Disputed Returns had nothing to do with him “registering twice or because he was dead or used a dead man’s name”.
“That was not the issue in his case.
“The FEO removed his name because they said the law requires you to use your birth certificate name, when that is not the law at all, as the Court of Disputed Returns ruled.”
Mr Apted was the lead Counsel on the team that defended Mr Nawaikula, who was deemed to have vacated his seat in Parliament in July after Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem removed his name from the National Register of Voters.
Mr Saneem had based his decision on the fact that Mr Nawaikula had applied to be registered on the National Register of Voters in 2013 under the name “Niko Nawaikula” when that was not the name on his birth certificate.
The Court of Disputed Returns and Chief Justice Kamal Kumar later ruled that Mr Saneem’s decision was unlawful, and therefore, “null and void”.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum told a press conference last Sunday the ruling could have serious implications on the fairness of general elections.
He said counsel for both sides failed to point out to the court that allowing voters to use their everyday names would breach the constitutional right to free and fair elections, because it could allow people to register twice or in the name of dead voters.
Questions sent to Mr Sayed-Khaiyum on Tuesday and again yesterday on the comments made by Mr Apted remain unanswered.
