Fijian Elections Office (FEO) acting manager legal Mesake Dawai says they will bank on their experience of conducting three national elections to facilitate the local government polls next year.
Speaking at a panel discussion on electoral system design for the local government election in Suva this week, Mr Dawai said as an election management body (EMB), they are aware of their inexperience in handling local government elections.
“So as soon as everything is finalised with regards to the laws pertaining to local government elections, our role as an EMB is to take that lead role to carry out that civic awareness,” he said.
“Also partnering with non-government organisations, civil society organisations, to educate residents and those that are eligible to vote in municipalities of the processes. But first, they need to understand, what is the municipal council? What is its responsibility?
“We cannot conduct the elections without our voters, who are the end users of this process. They need to understand the process before it’s implemented. And if you look at the voter turnout, it has been declining for the general election.
“So, we are also using our experiences in the national elections, looking at what went wrong, what could be improved, and the different areas that we can target to generate that interest amongst the residents within the 13 municipalities.”
He added that through the review process, they need to ensure that all loose ends are tied.
“If you look at the 13 municipalities, and since the last election that was held in 2005, the population for each town has increased. For some it may have dropped, I think in Levuka. These are some of the things that need to be carefully considered, especially when it comes to the boundaries.
“One of the biggest things that will need to take place is the boundaries review. Looking at the boundaries, the population has increased. Before we used to have the Constituency Boundaries Commission, we don’t have that anymore.
“Now the Electoral Commission has that responsibility and the Local Government Act to finalise the boundaries for each municipality. And so, us as an EMB, we won’t be able to carry out our work without knowing the boundaries which we need to work from.
“These boundaries will specify where we conduct our voter registration, who are the counsellors that can be nominated from within this boundary. We have the ward system.
“Some of the questions that will come up is if the ward system still relevant. It was something created in the 1972 Act. Do we still go with it? Or should we go by removing the ward system and making it an open constituency or a single constituency.
“Those are some of the considerations that will need to be factored in, in terms of finalising the boundaries.”
