RESIDENCY qualification was one of the major issues faced by political party candidates during the 2014 and 2018 general election, says Electoral Commission (EC) chairman Suresh Chandra.
During a news briefing yesterday, he said potential candidates should be wary of their residential statuses if they were keen on meeting candidate eligibility requirements in the next election.
He said the Electoral Act 2014, Section 23 (4) (c), stated a person was eligible to be nominated as a candidate for election to Parliament only if the person was ordinarily resident in Fiji for at least two years immediately before being nominated.
“If you are planning to contest the next general election, as per section 23 (5) of the Electoral Act, 2014, you will need to be in the country for an aggregate period of not less than 18 months out of the two years immediately after being nominated,” he said.
Mr Chandra also announced that the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) had developed an online register for political parties.
He said voters or any member of the public who required information on political parties could access the register for the information they needed.
“The online register has the name of the party, the details of the registered officer, names of office holders and the date of registration.
“The FEO, under the guidance of the EC, has already kick-started pre-electoral preparations and we are going all out to ensure that every process pertaining to a successful general election is carried out with the highest levels of quality and transparency.”
Mr Chandra said the online register was available on the FEO website.
