The election of Vijay Singh as a SODELPA vice-president is in breach of  the Political Parties  Decree, it was revealed last night.

Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem said he had referred the matter to  the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC).

But Mr Saneem found that the memorandum of understanding between SODELPA

and the suspended People’s Democratic Party was not a merger.

It was alleged that Mr Singh, who had not officially resigned from PDP, was elected SODELPA vice-president on December 9 last year. 

Mr Saneem said the MOU, signed by the two parties after Mr Singh’s election, served to affirm his appointment as a SODELPA vice-president.

Under the law a person cannot be a member of more than one political party.

Mr Saneem said the matter had been referred to FICAC “because we believe it contravenes section 15 of Political Parties Act”.

“There have been some complaints made by groups within SODELPA making various allegations and demands, which have been copied to the Supervisor of Elections,’’ Mr Saneem said.

“We have also received a complaint from one of those groups to look into this matter.

We will be duly responding to this group.”

When asked what sort of action his office (FEO) would take if FICAC found there was a breach, he said: “The Fijian Elections Office, by law, is only required to do a verification as to whether any part of the law was breached.

“We have now duly completed that exercise and if there are any further demands, complaints or actions within SODELPA that needs to be made they must be done based on the constitution of SODELPA. The Fijian Elections Office will not deal with it.

“If FICAC finds there is a case, they will prosecute. It depends on their own analysis of the case.  They will take the necessary action. They will do it independently.

“At the moment all the necessary action that we had to take we have taken. We have referred this to FICAC.”

He said the offence was committed by the person.

“No person should be a member of more than one political party. It’s an offence,” Mr Saneem said. 

Edited by George Kulamaiwasa

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