Dialogue Fiji warns FEO app removal could fuel election disinformation

The scrapping of the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) mobile app could open the door to election disinformation, warns Dialogue Fiji.

Executive director Nilesh Lal said the absence of an official, trusted results platform during elections would create a vacuum that could be filled with fabricated claims on social media.

“Without a credible, authoritative source of live results, people will begin posting all sorts of fabricated figures and claims online, making verification harder and potentially eroding trust in the electoral process,” Mr Lal said yesterday.

The FEO confirmed earlier this month it would discontinue the results app after technical glitches during the 2022 General Election caused confusion when the app and website displayed different results.

Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa told Parliament the office would return to a traditional media centre setup for the 2026 election.

However, Dialogue Fiji described the decision as “one of the most regressive developments in Fiji’s modern-day election administration.”

Mr Lal said the app had enabled real-time access to results and detailed historical data that researchers and analysts now could no longer access.

“The experience that Fijians had in accessing election results in real time and in such an engaging, visual format cannot be matched by media dissemination alone,” he said.

“The satisfaction that voters and others interested in Fiji’s election results derived from tracking live updates through the app will be lost.”

He urged the FEO to fix technical issues rather than abandon the platform entirely.

“Educate users, fix bugs, strengthen the platform but don’t dismantle it,” Mr Lal said.

“Discontinuing such a valuable public tool over a temporary issue is an irrational and short-sighted decision.”

Dialogue Fiji has written to the Supervisor of Elections requesting the decision be reconsidered.

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