Three women candidates to watch for in the 14 November General Election are all lawyers.
They are FijiFirst candidate Anne Dunn, HOPE Party leader Tupou Draunidalo and SODELPA’s Tanya Waqanika.
They are articulate and not afraid to express what they believe in particularly on sensitive issues.
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TUPOU DRAUNIDALO
In the statement of assets and liabilities published in the Fiji Sun yesterday, HOPE has no bank account yet because it has not obtained a TIN number.
Most of HOPE candidates had nothing to declare.
The boxes were blank suggesting they either had no bank account or no money in the account. Whatever it is, it has not deterred Ms Draunidalo from moving ahead with her election team and strategy.
She said in a FBC TV 4 the Record programme that they were fielding only 26 candidates because that’s the number of seats you must win in the 51-seat Parliament to form the government.
Ms Draunidalo is never afraid to talk about sensitive issues and against bigger political parties whose policies she disagrees with. Her courage, resilience and composure under pressure make her a difficult opponent to contend with.
On iTaukei issues, SODELPA does not have to contend with FijiFirst only. It must be prepared to face Ms Draunidalo.
She has already said publicly that SODELPA cannot regard itself as the mouthpiece of the iTaukei.
There are other iTaukei in other political parties too who can speak on behalf of iTaukei.
ANNE DUNN
The Suva lawyer, 26, is one of the youngest candidates in this election.
She does voluntary work for Pacific Voices in Unison as an advocate for climate change.
She was part of the Fijian delegation for COP23 in Bonn, Germany
She is advocating on climate change in this election. She is also taking up youth issues, particularly on social media.
As a winner of Miss Fiji, she has valuable experience on winning the hearts of the people through her communication skills.
TANYA WAQANIKA
She is like a live wire for SODELPA. She speaks her mind and will defend her position just as she did when she was engaged in the TV rights debate.
She did not mince her words the other night at a campaign meeting in Suva when she spoke on civil service reforms and contracts.
She said all expatriate permanent secretaries contracts would be terminated within the first 100 days after a SODELPA Government is formed.
She claimed there was nepotism in the current system.
All three women are expected to have a significant impact for their parties come the final days of the campaign.
Edited by Naisa Koroi
Feedback: nemani.delaibatiki@fijisun.com.fj
