‘Let them vote’

If any employee has been directed by their employer to come to work at 9am and not go and vote. Please take this time tonight (last night) to report it to the Fijian elections office. We will tomorrow (today) report this matter to the Human rights and Anti-Discrimination commission.

Mohammed Saneem Supervisor of Elections

under this Constitution.

“Subsection three reads every citizen who has reached the age of 18 years has the right (a) to be registered as a voter and (b) to vote by secret ballot in any election. Ladies and gentlemen, the Constitution does not make any allowance for any person to make law that will prohibit a person from voting. This means that neither Parliament nor an employer has the authority to stop a person from voting. They must allow the employees to vote.”

He said the Fijian elections office has been advocating for employers to allow employees to vote and then report to work.

Unjust and Unconstitutional

He said employers doing this was not only unjust, but the act was unconstitutional.

“If any employee has been directed by their employer to come to work at 9am and not go and vote. Please take this time tonight (last night) to report it to the Fijian elections office. We will tomorrow (today) report this matter to the Human rights and Anti-Discrimination commission.”

Petition the High Court

Mr Saneem said if necessary, the FEO itself would petition the High Court against that employer as it wanted all employees to be able to go and vote today.

“I know that the employers will always go back and say that it is a public holiday which does not stop us from opening our business.

“But ladies and gentlemen, it is the election.

“It is the constitutional right of every voter to go and vote and it is not the time for employers to force voters from not voting.”

He said the FEO would take people to court, as outlined in Section 44 of the Constitution if necessary, if people did not allow their employees to go to vote in the morning, or during the day.

Employers must immediately rectify all their plans and allow voters to go and vote.

“The general election, ladies and gentlemen, comes every four years, every employer in this country is being asked to be conscious of this matter and allow your employees the right to go and exercise their right to vote.”