More awareness needs to be created to inform the public about the processes surrounding local government elections slated for next year.
This was stressed by Dialogue Fiji executive director Nilesh Lal during a panel discussion in Suva on Monday night, which focused on the electoral system design for local government elections.
Mr Lal said the recent Local Government Amendment Bill had specifics relating to electoral system design were spelled out.
“We have been told that we can expect a more comprehensive legislation in relation to local government elections in the next sitting of Parliament,” he said. “And that the electoral management body (EMBs) are preparing to hold local government elections in around September or October of next year.
“There has been a local government elections working group formed and it has conducted extensive consultations in various parts of the country.”
However, Mr Lal said the quality of contributions received left much to be desired, as a lot of people had concerns about subjects like rubbish collection instead of contribution on issues like the sort of electoral system that was appropriate for the municipality.
“Now, we can’t really expect laypeople to really be making significant contributions on this very technical area of political science, so that is why we have decided to take it upon ourselves to ensure that the people are able to make informed choices to this particular discourse.”
The panel discussion focused on various types of electoral systems, and considerations account regarding voter eligibility as well as the role of municipal councils.
