The Director Operations,
Director Corporate Service,
Acting Manager Legal, and
Media Representatives,
Bula vinaka and a very good morning to all of you.
It is a pleasure for me to be here today and be part of this important consultation. Today’s consultation will enable the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) to hear first-hand, your feedback on how the FEO engaged with you members of the media in covering the 2022 General Elections.
In addition, FEO will happily receive your recommendations on how things could be improved in preparation for the next general elections and new areas of engagement moving forward.
Before I proceed, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your understanding and cooperation during the 2022 national General Election. I know it was not easy for most of you, but you managed to deliver.
You enabled parties, candidates and others to present their messages to voters, and on balance, you informed voters of their choices. Therefore, thank you for your hard work, patience and perseverance and we look forward to receiving the same level of commitment come the next general election.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is the first time the FEO is involving its stakeholders in reviewing its activities and processes which contributed and led to the 2022 General Election and I look forward to hearing your honest feedback and suggestions.
Media organisations are an important stakeholder of the FEO. The Multinational Observer Group (MOG) in their 2022 Fiji Election Report highlighted that 13-local media organisations and 12 international media organisations were accredited to report on the election, with a total of 410 accredited media personnel. This saw an increase from the 19 accredited media organisations for the 2018 election.
The MOG Report further stated that despite the increase, many media organisations stated that the general election environment in 2022, was more restrictive when compared to the 2018 general election.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The ultimate aim of the FEO moving forward is to establish and strengthen its relationship with the media organisations and ensure that the general election environment is not restrictive and does not contribute to confusion and uncertainty. Having said that, today’s consultation is the beginning of this new and exciting journey.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your role in covering the electoral process is crucial and for this reason, the FEO will do all it can to ensure that the processes and procedures are transparent, clear and precise. In addition, the FEO will take heed of the three recommendations made in the MOG Report in its effort to strengthen the media’s ability to contribute to public disclosure and political accountability.
Thus, for today’s consultation, I encourage all of us to be as honest, interactive and informal as possible. Your contribution is valuable to the FEO and the electoral process as a whole. Speak your mind freely and encourage others to do the same.
With those words, I look forward to receiving feedback and suggestions from you on how best we can all move the FEO forward and I wish you all the best.
Thank you, Vinaka Vakalevu.
