Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem says the National Federation Party (NFP) has failed to substantiate its complaint with cogent evidence.

Mr Saneem dismissed the complaints related to an alleged SMS text message received by certain individuals during the recent Constitution Day public holiday.

He also dismissed claims of weaponisation and proliferation of sponsored fake news on Facebook particularly during the 48-hour black out period of the 2018 General Election.

NFP lodged a complaint on September 13, 2022. Mr Saneem said in relation to the SMS text message claims, the party only provided
evidence of the text messages being sent to its leader Biman Prasad.

He said the party did not provide any messages sent to any other person or group of persons which would have allowed him to take the next course of action to determine the source.

Regarding the claims of sponsored fake news during the 2018 General Election, Mr Saneem said the party used hypothetical scenarios from the 2018 General Elections.

“The Fijian Elections Office is now empowered under Section 144A to remove false statements on any platform.”

“The Centre for Credible Election Information will also be providing various clarifications and highlighting instances in relation to disinformation and misinformation on social media pages,” he said.

Story By: Nacanieli Tuilevuka

Feedback: nacanieli@fijisun.com.fj