Fiji Sun publisher and CEO Peter Lomas says “despite constant publicity in The Fiji Times“, Unity Fiji party leader Savenaca Narube is “far behind Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, Sitiveni Rabuka and Viliame Gavoka in the preferred PM stakes”.
Mr Lomas made the comment in response to queries from this newspaper about a statement issued by Mr Narube where he labelled the Fiji Sun “Government’s mouthpiece” and questioned a political party poll conducted by the newspaper.
Mr Narube said opinion polls were essential to gauge voter preferences before the elections, however, there was only one in the entire country.
“Very importantly, this poll is associated with a newspaper that is widely known to be the Government’s mouthpiece,” Mr Narube said in a statement issued yesterday.
“This increases the risks that the poll may not be independent and technically robust.” Mr Narube said he was basing his analysis of the Fiji Sun’s polls on the lead-up to the 2018 General Election.
“The opinion polls can be very wrong, as shown in 2018 where the Fiji Sun razor poll had Mr Bainimarama up by 74 per cent over all the other leaders, only to drop to 50 per cent at the elections just 57 days later. “It is about time that we have a second opinion poll in Fiji as we approach the 2022 elections.
“Without a second opinion poll, the people, especially the opposition parties, should take the results of this single poll with a large grain of salt.”
Mr Lomas said the Fiji Sun’s long established poll was conducted by “a contracted independent research company, Western Force Research”.
“Its reliability and capacity are well established,” he said. “Mr Narube’s comments follow his own consistently poor poll showing.
“He is far behind PM Voreqe Bainimarama, Sitiveni Rabuka and Viliame Gavoka in the preferred PM stakes, despite constant publicity in The Fiji Times.”
