With just four months to go for the general elections, the National Federation Party said it will file a case in court in the next few weeks to push for changes to the ballot paper.
Although the government has confirmed that the ballot paper design will not be amended, NFP General Secretary, Kamal Iyer said the party believes that the change is necessary.
Attorney General and Minister for Elections, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum 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.
Under the new voting system, the current ballot paper will only have a list of candidate numbers.
There will be no party symbols or candidat'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 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
