Minister for Lands Filimone Vosarogo told Parliament yesterday that amendments to Fiji’s electoral laws in 2022 gave the Supervisor of Elections powers that exceeded those of the Commissioner of Police.
Referring to the Electoral Amendment Act No. 49 of 2022, passed on September 2, 2022 — just months before the general election — Vosarogo said the changes to Section Six of the Electoral Act “invested the Supervisor of Elections with more powers than ever before.”
“The Supervisor of Elections could demand information or documents from anyone, even where confidentiality, secrecy, or privilege laws applied,” he said.
“These powers overrode the Secrecy Act and other protections — all it took was a simple letter demanding the information.”
Vosarogo warned that the penalties for refusing such requests were severe: “Individuals could face fines up to $50,000 or five years in prison, while corporations risked $500,000 and jail time for their directors or CEOs.”
“What is alarming, Mr Speaker, is that even the Commissioner of Police does not have such powers,” Vosarogo said.
“The police must obtain a subpoena or a search warrant to access information. Yet, the Supervisor of Elections could simply write a letter and compel compliance. In this case, all that you get is a letter, a simple letter saying, these are information that I believe you have, and you have a few days.”
“His not an investigative, doesn’t have investigative capacity. He’s not an investigative arm of any government. Yet he was invested a few months just before the election, with the provisions that we say are very aggressive.”
“The subtle use of the law that time to threaten people from participating with something which must be free and which must be held in a free environment, and free from executive coverage and free from laws that suppress the rights to participate in the election.”
