The Fijian Elections Office [FEO] yesterday concluded its Nationwide Voter Registration Drive and Know Your Election campaign for the 2022 General Election with 200,899 voter engagements and 19,879 new registrations.
In extending his appreciation to all stakeholders, Supervisor of Elections, Mr Mohammed Saneem said the 49-day Drive was the culmination of a year’s worth of planning and preparation that saw fruition as the FEO reached a record number of Fijians through its outreach in the form of voter registration and awareness.
“Our teams travelled to some of the most remote villages, crossing rivers and making journeys on foot to provide voter services to Fijians ensuring that no one person was deprived of the opportunity to register, update their details or upgrade their VoterCard ahead of the 2022 General Election,” Mr Saneem said.
“This time around we also placed our teams strategically in heavily populated settlements in various urban centres where we took our services to the people instead of having them come to our Voter Services Centres in towns,” he explained.
The FEO crossed its target for voter engagement twice during this drive and Mr Saneem says the success of this initiative rested with the FEO teams that went out to villages, settlements, urban centres and rural and maritime areas to provide voter services as well as the various stakeholders that facilitated our visits.
“The FEO thanks all the Fijians who came out and registered, updated or upgraded their VoterCard with us during this drive as well as the FEO teams who toiled through the 49 days to provide our voters with these critical services,” Mr Saneem said.
“We also extend our appreciation to our stakeholders; the Turaga-ni-Koros, Advisory Councilors, government agencies, as well as businesses and individuals who provided our teams with venues from where we conducted our services.”
With the first possible Writ Day being only a month away, Mr Saneem said the FEO will continue in its efforts to prepare voters to be able to cast their vote come 2022 General Election.
“Whilst the Drive is over, our Voter Services Centres in all towns and cities will remain open until Writ Day which is when voter registration will officially cease,” Mr Saneem said.
The locations and opening hours of the FEO Voter Services Centres can be found on the website at www.feo.org.fj as well as on the FEO Facebook page.
“Now that the drive has concluded with just over 200,000 Fijians having upgraded their card and updated their details in the process, they can confidently say they are ready to vote in this year’s general election. Anyone who has not done so till now can still access registration services at the nearest Voter Services Centre,” Mr Saneem added.
