02 February 2022
The Elections Disability Access Working Group [EDAWG] had its first meeting for the year this morning to discuss the FEO’s plans and preparations for the 2022 General Elections.
Speaking in the meeting, Supervisor of Elections, Mr Mohammed Saneem, said the Terms of Reference that was signed last year has become the platform for engagement with various disability groups and the FEO will place great importance in ensuring that it facilitates the rights of persons with disabilities to vote in the next general election.
“We are very fortunate in Fiji that we have managed to form this working relationship with Organizations of Persons with Disabilities [OPDs] and I am very thankful that we are taking a very collaborative role in realizing the rights of every individual in Fiji,” Mr Saneem said.
“On this note, I wanted to mention that the FEO is going to be working with the SPC and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems [IFES] to develop a voter assistance guide for persons with disabilities. We are currently in the midst of finalizing our terms of reference with IFES and SPC before we proceed to develop these guidelines.”
Mr Saneem added he looked forward to organizing some more workshops with the EDAWG so that election information could be shared with the OPDs and their members.
The meeting which took place virtually this morning was attended by the Chair of EDAWG and FEO’s Director Operations Ms Anaseini Senimoli and various OPDs.
-Ends-
