ELECTIONS OFFICE STARTS
FINAL PUSH BEFORE POLL DATE CALL
Let’s be sure that come next week we are ready for an election when it is announced.
This was the view of Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem during a press conference at the Fijian Elections Office yesterday. He said this week may be the final round of voter registrations for the 2018 General Election before the Writ of Election is issued. Once the Writ is issued, the FEO will cease voter registration and updating of details.
Mr Saneem advises all Fijians to register now and not wait until the last minute because no one knows when the Writ of Election will be issued.
FEO will have 41 centres around the country for Fijians to register. “We must not leave things to the last minute because we will not be able to assist anyone who has not registered by Writ Day or who has not updated their details by Writ Day,” he said.
“Therefore, if you are over the age of 18 and you have not registered until now, you have this week, you have Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and the whole of next week if the Writ is not announced.
“If you are already registered, it is imperative that you check your details now.”
Voters can check their details on FEO 1500 SMS platform. Mr Saneem said last week they ran an outside broadcast to attract people to their Nakasi Centre. Around 4366 voters managed to take advantage of this service. “It was a good turnout considering it was still a week or two weeks away from a possible final date,” he said.
“We have over 630,000 voters and we need all the voters to at least check their details once before the writ is issued.
“Voters move from place to place and we are also cognisant of this fact and that is why we want to request all voters who have moved from their place of residence in 2014 to another in 2018, please update your details sooner rather than later.
“If you do not know where your polling venue is, you can text your Voter Card number to 1500 and you will receive a text message instantly informing you of your venue. This is a free of charge service. “Once the Writ is issued, voter services will be closed.
“My request to all voters is to make use of the final push that the FEO is doing.
“Take advantage of this access that we have created so that you cannot find yourself in difficulty come Election Day.
“As I said, once voter registration closes on writ day, you will not be able to update your details and you will not be able to register.” Edited by Epineri Vula