The Registrar of Political Parties, Ana Mataiciwa, yesterday rejected the proposed FijiansFirst application for registration, stating that the name closely resembles that of the deregistered FijiFirst party.
Ms Mataiciwa said her decision followed objections lodged by two political parties — the National Federation Party (NFP) and The People’s Alliance (TPA) — in relation to the application.
She said the objections raised concerns about the unauthorised use of the coat of arms in the proposed party symbol, similarities between the proposed symbol and that previously used by FijiFirst, the close resemblance between the name FijiansFirst and the deregistered FijiFirst, and the likelihood that the acronym FFP could be associated with FijiFirst.
“Based on NFP and TPA’s objections on similarity between the proposed name FijiansFirst and FijiFirst, I find that the proposed name so nearly resembles that of the deregistered party FijiFirst as to be likely to be confused with or mistaken for that party within the meaning of section 8(h)(iii) of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013,” she said in a statement.
She said all other grounds raised by the two parties, including those relating to the symbol, use of national imagery, and the likely use of the abbreviation FFP, had been considered but did not meet the statutory threshold under sections 8(b) or 8(h)(iii) of the Act and were therefore rejected.
The proposed FijiansFirst party may appeal to the Electoral Commission within 14 days of the date of the decision under section 30(1) of the Act.
