BEDDOES SLAMS ELECTORAL COMMISSION & SUPERVISOR August 28 2014 STATEMENT No 22 SODELPA candidate Mick Beddoes labeled the Electoral Commission and Supervisor of Elections as incompetent and is outraged at their decision to start pre polling on September 3rd, 2 weeks before the election date? WHY BEDDOES ASKS? Beddoes said ever since the announcement of the 17th September I day elections, the political parties have said it was impossible to do so in Fiji, yet the regime has continually insisted that it could be done and would be done. Now here we are just 20 days from the announced election date of the 17th of September and they announce pre polling dates from the 3rd till the 12th which effectively turns this 1 day election into a “10” day election. With the announced pre polling placing an increased burden on parties to bring forward its plans for polling by 2 weeks and sacrificing valuable final day campaigning. Beddoes said at least with the old system everyone knew it was a week and could plan accordingly and there were no ‘unexpected’ changes to the dates, because a democratic system of governance would not tolerate such a display of incompetence. In a Dictatorship as we are, they account and answer to no one, so they treat the people of Fiji accordingly. How long have they known about the need to make these changes? Why was this not a factor when they announced the date of elections? Are we to assume this sudden shift from a 1 day to a 10 day elections is due to incompetence or is there something far more sinister at play here? Beddoes asked. For example where will the results be kept for the 3 to 21 days before the 17th vote? Who will secure it? The regime? Beddoes said officials report to the Minister, he is also the General Secretary of Fiji First, an interested party to the outcome of these elections? Then there are the other officials, all of whom owe their jobs to the Minister and are likely to be supporters of Fiji First, unless some of them remain irrelevant zombies who have no conscious and simply do as they are told despite knowing that what is happening is a ‘blatant’ conflict of interest and totally unfair to all participating parties and Independents. Campaigning is supposed to stop 48 hours before voting and all parties have scheduled meetings and other activities right up till 15th September, based on a promised September 17th one day election? So what happens now? Does this mean campaigning stops on the 1st September? 2 weeks ahead of schedule? This pre poll is said to involve approximately 500 plus polling stations/venues and about 50,000 voters, but at 500 voters per polling station, this should be a lot more voters? Most people are away from their homes due to the school holidays and may not be back at their homes in time to cast their votes, some 50,000 people are in and around Suva as part of the Methodist Conference and will not be back in time to poll? I was in Ra yesterday and the same was told to us there. How can the elections be free or fair if due to the incompetence of the Supervisor of Elections and Electoral Commission, sudden changes are made to the date of voting for some and because voters don’t know about the new date and miss the new date, they lose that right to vote, even though they were planning to vote on the 17th? Why should they be penalized, for the incompetence of the Commission and Supervisor? Beddoes said only last week Fiji witnessed what he believes was a stage managed theatrical standoff between the Commission and Supervisor. The net result of this was that Fiji First got all its 50 candidates through, even though one was disallowed and FLP was denied one candidate who was allowed? All officials involved in that saga had and still have a huge conflict of interest because, the Supervisor of Elections and Chairman of the Commission both report to the Minister for Elections who just happens to be the General Secretary of Fiji First, the one party that benefited from the ‘Bollywood style’ storm in a tea cup disagreement. This is what they mean by equal citizenry, they see themselves as more equal than the rest of us, so can do what they like, while the rest of us are supposed to just toe the line Beddoes said. Beddoes said he remains totally unconvinced that the electoral officials’ performance to date reflect a process that one can say with any level of confidence to be free, fair or transparent. Beddoes said the motivation for these sudden moves look more like a political maneuver designed to lead serious manipulation of the process to ensure a certain outcome. Beddoes said he hoped the International Observers were taking note of these developments and looking behind the façade. Authorized By: Mick Beddoes
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 02:01:40 +0000
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