Acting Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa says she stands by the letter and the notice sent out to suspended political parties on Wednesday.

The Acting Registrar of Political Parties had suspended All Peoples Party, FijiFirst Party, New Generation Party and We Unite Fiji Party for 30 days with immediate effect for contravening Section 26(2) of the Political Parties Act, 2013.

The section required all parties to provide to the Registrar, within three months after the end of each financial year, the record of accounts of its income, expenditure, asset and liabilities audited by an auditor certified by the Fiji Institute of Accountants.

In an email sent to the Acting Supervisor of Elections and the Electoral Commission on Wednesday night, general secretary of the suspended FijiFirst party Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum described the suspension as grossly unfair, biased and prejudicial to the suspended party.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum in the email also called on the Electoral Commission to exercise its powers under section 75 of the Fijian Constitution and review the decision of Ms Mataiciwa and remove the unfair suspension.

Ms Mataiciwa said just like any other suspension that had been carried out, this was not the first one, and the suspension had been vetted legally.

“At this stage we stand by the letter and the notice sent out,” she said.

“At the end of the day, we cannot satisfy people, they have their own opinion, I am here to do a job and I am binded by my roles and responsibilities under the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji.

“I will just go on according to what the law has for me to do.”

Story by: inoke.rabonu@fijisun.com.fj