The government has made it clear that the ballot paper for the 2014 general elections will not be changed.
Attorney General and Minister for Elections, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has confirmed this to Fijivillage as he said this is one of the most uncomplicated ballot papers Fiji will ever use.
Speaking to us in a recent interview, Sayed-Khaiyum said the four political parties who want the candidates’ names, photos and party symbols on the ballot paper, are just creating a circus and not focusing on issues.
Sayed-Khaiyum said the Open List System will ensure that people know who they want to vote for.
The National Federation Party had earlier stated that they are planning to take the matter to court as they want the ballot paper changed.
NFP will make further comment this afternoon.
Under the new voting system, the current ballot paper will only have a list of candidate numbers.
There will be no party symbols or candidate's names on the current ballot paper.
This system also has only one constituency and that is Fiji.
People can vote for any person who is an official candidate.
As already highlighted, it is not race based and does not restrict people from voting only for candidates in certain areas.
The candidate names and numbers will be drawn by the Elections Office by the 25th of August.
Under the Electoral Decree, it is said that the numbering must start from 135.
The decree said that all the numbers will be put in a barrel and the Elections Office will draw candidate names with their numbers.
The candidate's names, their photos and numbers will be displayed at all polling stations when people go to cast their votes.
It has been confirmed in the Electoral Decree that people can either tick, cross or circle only one candidate's number on the current ballot paper.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
Ballot paper for general elections will not change - Govt
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