Statement by the Supervisor of Elections

Mr. Mohammed Saneem

Update on the Provisional Voter List Verification and Nationwide Voter Registration & Awareness Drive

Date: 21/02/22

Time:11.00am

Bula Vinaka Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Fijian Elections Office [FEO] continues its preparations for the 2022 General Election, and I would like to report that we have successfully conducted two rounds of Voter List verification exercises directly with the Turaga-Ni-Koros and District Advisory Councilors from around the country.

From the first round of verification, which started  on 04 October 2021 and concluded on 19 November 2021, the FEO dispatched 1,929 Provisional Voter Lists to Turaga-Ni-Koros  and District Advisory Councilors, in which we invited the Turaga-Ni-Koros  and the District Advisory Councilors to verify these Voter Lists against the people who are currently residing in those areas, report to us those that have moved, as well as identify those who have  have died since the last general election.

Following that exercise, the Fijian Elections Office received Voter Lists from the Northern, Central, Eastern and the Western Divisions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, for the Northern Division, 377 PVL were sent and 267 PVL were received, for the Central Division, 661 PVL was sent with 397 PVL received, for the Eastern Division, the FEO had sent 219 PVL and received 165 PVL and lastly for the Western Division, 672 PVL were sent with 299 PVL received.

Thereafter, the Fijian Elections Office carried out a verification exercise, particularly for voters that had been marked as deceased with the Births, Deaths and Marriages [BDM] Registry.

Following that exercise 2,041 voters were removed from the National Register of Voters [NRV].

Furthermore, in preparation for the Nationwide Voter Registration Drive [NVR], and the Know Your Election [KYE] campaign, the Fijian Elections Office issued Turaga-Ni-Koros and District Advisory Councilors with a second set of Provisional Voter Lists to verify.

Thereafter, the second set of Provisional Voter Lists were sent on 17 January and 1,070 PVL were received by 04 February 2022.

Using the information received from the second set of voter lists, the Fijian Elections Office carried out a second verification exercise with the BDM and removed 6,920 voters from the Register.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fijian Elections Office has since 2014 always relied on the Turaga-Ni-Koros and Advisory Councilors network to carry out ground level verification of the National Register of Voters and the Voter Lists that we use in the General Election.

We are doing the same for the 2022 exercise, as we consider the Turaga-Ni-Koros   and District Advisory Councilors as the primary source of information from the ground.

Going forward into the Nationwide Voter Registration Drive and the Know Your Election campaign, the Fijian Elections Office will be using the verified Voter Lists from the second round of verification that have been returned by the Turaga-Ni-Koros and Advisory Councilors as a baseline for verification and registration drives in each community as we progress through the Nationwide Voter Registration Drive.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the lists also provide an opportunity for the FEO to ascertain how many voters to expect in terms of voter services for those areas.

Going forward, there will be another round of Provisional Voter List verification that we will conduct after the end of the Nationwide Voter Registration Drive and KYE campaign and this will most likely be done during the Writ period.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our intention at all times is to ensure that the Voter List is as current, correct and as accurate as possible.

To do this, the FEO has already issued various initiatives such as the expiry of the Green VoterCard, the issuance of the Blue Voter Cards, the requirements for the use of Birth Certificates for the purposes of registration, for verification of name, as well as direct verification of Voter Lists on the ground from Turaga-Ni-Koros and District Advisory Councilors.

Nationwide Voter Registration & Awareness Drive

Ladies and Gentleman, the FEO is launching the Nationwide Voter Registration and Awareness Drive this Friday, the 25^th of February 2022.

To kick start the nationwide exercise, our voter registrations teams will be set-up at various hotspots in all towns and cities this weekend and we will be there with the BDM Registry.

So, if you require voter services and do not have a birth certificate, you will be able to get your birth certificate done at the same venue after which you can either Register, replace or upgrade your VoterCard.

These are the Venues:

Divisional Schedule for KYE Urban Centres

Schedule for February 26

Schedule for February 27

Our teams will be coming out in full force weekend and we urge Fijians who require voter services to get their documents ready. The FEO will require the original or a certified true copy of your birth certificate for all voter services and for new registration we will also need a valid photo ID.

That, Ladies and Gentlemen, concludes my announcement for today.

Thank you, Vinaka Vakalevu!