FEO Warns Parties to Ensure Their Actors Do Not Cook Up Data
Political parties should ensure that they issue a stern warning to all their actors not to cook up data just for the sake of distorting election data.
The Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, was commenting on a Facebook post by SODELPA’S Jale Baba.
He said that Mr Baba had posted a voters list on his Facebook page with the contact details of various individuals without any authorisation. “This is not the time to joke around,” he said. “This is the time to be serious about election, time to be serious about voters register. And if you intend to mislead voters through any means, the Fijian Elections Office will always ensure that we have the best interest of voters in our actions.
“We will come out for clarification and we will ensure that the full strength of the law is used on individuals who attempt to undermine the election process through misinformation, deliberate misinformation.”
He said the FEO would be pursuing legal avenues for these types of behaviour, particularly on someone who represents a political party.
“These sorts of behaviours will only lead to misinformation regarding the whole election process,” Mr Saneem said.
“We have to make sure that the information that is been published by political party representatives is of the most accurate nature. Now is not the time to try and undermine the process; it is the time to participate effectively.
“We invite political parties that have issues with any voter register or any operational logistic matter, kindly raise it with us first so that we are able to clarify the issues, or if there is any error, we will be able to amend it.”
Mr Saneem added the whole idea was that the election needed to be undertaken by all stakeholders together and that it is not only the responsibility of the FEO.
“Our job is to get you here, now it is the time to take it forward and the whole country has to do it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jale Baba’s post has since been removed.
Mr Saneem added that the whole idea was that the election needed to be undertaken by all stakeholders together and that it is not only the responsibility of the FEO.