Youngest candidate nominees front up
They are the youngest candidate nominees so far.
Anishini Chand of the National Federation Party and Nicholas Baleikoro for the People’s Democratic Party are 23-year-olds.
Ms Chand, originally from Lautoka, said she joined NFP because it was the oldest political party and was not involved in any coups.
“My motive to join NFP was to get rid of the coup culture. We need the rule of law in the country as well as transparency and accountability,” Ms Chand said.
“Being the youngest candidate I feel that I understand what issues the youths face and if NFP goes into Parliament after the elections, it will have members of our calibre in the Parliament who can tackle issues faced by the youth.”
Some of the issues that she would like to shed light on are unemployment, cost of living, sustainability of our environment among others.
Mr Baleikoro from Taveuni, is a youth and prisoner rehabilitation advocate, and a community worker, advocate for Rainbow Pride Foundation.
He is a graduate of the Fiji School of Medicine with a diploma in Public Health administration and at present he is pursuing a degree in Events and Hotel management.
He said the youths of today have lots of potential and they have a lot of opportunities to go about making themselves productive. His aim is to create more jobs for the unemployed youths.
“I have a lot of my friends who have graduated from universities without jobs and are still looking for jobs, so this is one way I am utilising PDP to empower youths,” Mr Baleikoro said. “PDP believes in real change so I want to be the voice of the youths of today and basically to change the perceptions of elders towards us because we need to be included in decision-making,” Mr Baleikoro said.
