A SODELPA group has filed a challenge in the High Court in Suva against the party’s conduct in its General As­sembly in Savusavu in June.

It was filed on behalf of SODEL­PA voters by certain SODELPA Party members led by the SO­DELPA Suva Constituency presi­dent Watisoni Nata.

Mr Nata says it has been done to strengthen the party’s account­ability for its voters and support­ers.

This follows certain alleged breaches by some executives of the Party whereby the Party Con­stitution has, in Mr Nata’s (and other supporting members) view, been potentially compromised.

In a statement, the Nata-led group has said that this court ac­tion was a demonstration to the people of this nation that SODEL­PA believes in good governance, accountability of its executives, and that the party’s members have the legal right to seek the Court’s intervention in circum­stances such as this.

“SODELPA is the kind of govern­ment needed, where we are able to hold our leaders to account for any breaches made to our party Constitution,” the statement said.

“We believe that it is crucial that to be able to lead credibly, we must follow rules and regulations which includes our own and as such, we must not compromise at any stage, legislations that have been set down to protect the in­tegrity of the party.

“Recent elections held at Sa­vusavu and subsequent actions thereafter, have been alleged to have been done in breach of not only the SODELPA Constitution, but also the Political Parties (Reg­istration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013 and the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji.

“So as responsible members of the party who are also founding members, who with others co-funded the establishment of the party, we have decided to protect the party from any further pos­sible breaches which could result in dire consequences for the par­ty, and have decided to seek the courts’ intervention to set aside any breaches that may be estab­lished before it.

“This case has come about fol­lowing the failure to address the contentious issues internally, and which was exhausted for two months following the AGM at Savusavu on June 28, 2019. The group has thus decided that it is in everyone’s interest to set a precedent for good governance within the party.

“This court action is set to en­sure that in 2022, SODELPA is the party that takes leadership, because it espouses strong leader­ship values that emphasis ethical and morally conscious values and principles” the statement said.