Dear younger Fijians,

This is an open letter and invitation that whatever po­litical party you support (govern­ment or not in government) you volunteer on poll day and for the count, to be an agent and scruti­neer.

The outcome of the vote will de­termine the kind of Fiji you live in for the next four years and beyond. A high taxes Fiji with $2.68 an hour minimum wage or different. A high unemployment Fiji or low. A mod­ern, free, liberal Fiji or not.

Voting and votes are that impor­tant and the writs for elections will be issued anytime from today until October. I urge as many of you as possible to each find three friends and do what is necessary to get yourself accredited as a poll agent/count scrutineer at a polling sta­tion. There will be a few polling sta­tions at each polling venue.

Please expect to be at the polling venue all day. Four of you to each polling station means you can take turns of an hour each. Please take water and food for you all. We will be happy to assist where we can but thi is subject to official approval.

1. The Fijian Elections Office will allow agents and scrutineers to observe the poll all day from begin­ning to end.
2. You should be able to see the bal­lot box empty in front of you when the poll opens.
3. Also, you will be able to see eve­ry voter and every ballot dropped into the ballot box.
4. If you cannot, then please re­cord it.
5. Please record (in writing) every circumstance that you find suspi­cious. Just please write it down and it will be dealt with later by party officials and lawyers.
6. Before about 10 minutes to 6pm on poll day, fresh eyes need to be inside the polling station for the count.
7. Immediately after the poll closes, the elections officials are required to empty that ballot box you have all been observing all day- right there in front of you then they count it in front of you. They cannot ask you to leave at any time, everything has to happen in the open in front of you.
8. The ballots are big and visible- A3 paper and 19 font size, stand by the count table and count along. Please record it.
9. If any step is missed, please record it. Send it to your party of­ficials in Suva for tallying and rec­onciliation.
10. If you have any queries, please contact us for clarification. Send us a message here, on Facebook.

We want to do our bit too to make these elections run as smoothly as possible. The ball is now in our court. The Fijian Elections Office had briefed our party like they have the other parties on the vote and count process and procedures. All queries were answered satisfactori­ly. Another senior lawyer and three other volunteers accompanied me, and we all thought it was pretty straightforward.

We believe in you, Fiji. Please do the needful and volunteer to make this work for all Fijians, but espe­cially for you, the young. Our today and our tomorrow.

Vinaka vakalevu.

Source: HOPE