Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry failed to provide the evidence of his allegations to the Fijian Elections Office.

During a panel discussion of Opposition party leaders on Thursday, Mr Chaudhry claimed that the 2014 General Election was rigged.

He claimed that FLP president Lavinia Padarath did not receive any vote at her polling station at Saint Joseph’s Secondary School. Mrs Padarath had voted there.

However, the FEO results stated that Ms Padarath received one vote at that station.

Meanwhile, Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem yesterday said the FEO  asked Mr Chaudhry to provide them with evidence of his allegations of rigging as well as evidence that Mrs Padarath did not receive that one vote from her polling station.

“Nothing has been provided to us which only leads to the fact that this information was incorrect and falsely made,” he said.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that Fiji gets the most up to date election information from all sources.

“Mr Chaudhry as a former Prime Minister should have been more careful then to just have these outbursts.

“The only thing left now is for Mr Chaudhry to apologise to the public. We have done our part, we have clarified the matter and we end it there.”

Mr Saneem also clarified few issues that were discussed at the panel discussion. These includes:

• Corporate organisations cannot donate to political parties or candidates. If a donation is made then severe penalties under the Electoral Act will apply; and
• “We have very clearly explained to political parties the reason why we cannot do GPS tagging of ballot boxes. In fact, we aren’t able to see any countries that have GPS tracking of ballot boxes,” Mr Saneem said.

He added that the 2018 General Election has not happened yet and political parties and all stakeholders must act cautiously to preserve the sanctity of the electoral process.

Edited by Epineri Vula

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