SODELPA leader points out decrease in voters
SOCIAL Democratic Liberal Party leader Viliame Gavoka says the huge increase in the number of people who did not vote from the 2014 to the 2018 polls could be attributed to the FijiFirst Government being “drunk with power”.
Speaking in Parliament during debate on the review of the Legislature Department’s annual report 2014-2015, the Opposition member said issues such as the way Standing Orders were arbitrarily amended in 2014, 2015 and 2016 had contributed to the disinterest of Fijians in voting and Government.
“It is also sad that the Standing Orders should be cast in stone,” Mr Gavoka said.
“They should not be changed in the way Standing Orders in Fiji have been changed over the years.
“I was quoting an example yesterday about the Public Accounts Committee which was originally chaired by the Opposition and it was changed by FijiFirst.
“They decided that they could not take the heat that was coming from the chair of the committee and they decided to change the Standing Orders.
“I asked people in the previous Parliaments and they said no, Standing Orders are sacrosanct.
“You do not change Standing Orders unless only in extreme cases so these are issues that we need to respect and for the integrity of this Parliament, let us keep the Standing Orders intact and do not play with them.”
Mr Gavoka said his fear was “if we do not look after our Parliament, if we compromise the standards of this Parliament, our people will lose interest”.
“We had 90,000 people who did not vote in 2014. It had increased to 171,000 in 2018.
“Yes, the weather was inclement. There were a few other factors, but my fear is that people are also now saying it is pointless and it is not what they expected.”