Turaga says SG’s Chambers, Law Reform Comm and Ministry will work with FEO to undertake review of electoral process

Minister for Justice, Siromi Turaga stresses that the Office of the Solicitor General’s Chambers, the Fiji Law Reform Commission and the Ministry of Justice will work closely with the Electoral Commission and the Fijian Elections Office to undertake the review of the electoral process.

While responding to questions from fijivillage News, Turaga confirms that Solicitor General, Ropate Green Lomavatu has had a meeting with Supervisor of Elections, Ana Mataiciwa.

Mataiciwa had raised on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan that she is concerned that there has been no action into the 2022 general election glitch, and her last communication on the audit was with Turaga and Lomavatu in March last year.

She says this needs to be actioned urgently as they still have thousands of ballot papers from 2022 and questions what is the delay in getting this done.

Mataiciwa feels the investigation has to be done to clear any suspicions with the stakeholders.

She also raises the question on what is the delay in actioning the commencement date and preparations for the Local Government Elections and why has there been no action taken on the urgent review of the electoral laws.

Mataiciwa says she has already indicated that an urgent review of the electoral laws should be done and to ensure consultations are held and Bills are then prepared for them to be taken to parliament. She asks what is the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Solicitor General planning to do about this.

Attorney General, Graham Leung confirms that the Elections Office comes under the Ministry of Justice.

Minister for Justice, Siromi Turaga says they had gone to cabinet and later withdrawn the paper for clarification on some electoral issues.

Turaga says they intend to go back to cabinet, and this will be done after meeting with all the relevant parties.

He stresses that they are committed to improve transparency in the electoral process.

Turaga says the people of Fiji deserve that and the coalition government is fully committed to it.

He says given the recent change in the portfolio, the timeline is in the July to August period.

Turaga says at the moment, the Electoral Commission is revisiting issues and having discussions on the review of the electoral laws.