SODELPA provisional candidate, Dildar Shah, says there was no evidence to prove that the 2018 General Elections was rigged.

He made the statement following claims by National Federation Party leader, Biman Prasad, in Parliament about information he had received of a FijiFirst member stating that the 2018 elections was rigged while being intoxicated.

Mr Prasad has not revealed the name of the FijiFirst provisional candidate despite promising that he would.

Mr Shah said politicians should exercise care in their public utterances and private meetings so they don’t undermine the integrity of the electoral system.

“Fiji has achieved a milestone in Electoral reforms. We are an envy of many established democracies,” he said.

“How many countries can boast a voter ID card for all its potential voters?

“A voter ID card is a protection against common voting irregularities like impersonation, duplicate voting and voting on behalf of a dead person.”

“If we allow for some human failings as no one is God, the irregularities are so negligible that it cannot impact the final results.”

“The FFP won the 2014 elections with around 90,000 votes. In 2018 it won with a mere 147 votes so where is the rigging?”

He said Fiji enjoyed a unique electoral system where a voter could vote for a candidate of their choice irrespective of where one resides.

“I had submitted to the Ghai Commission that Fiji be one constituency and I am pleased to note that it is incorporated in our electoral system.

“Let us protect this unique gift and not plant seeds of chaos and discord.”

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