Elections portfolio can hardly be independent

FIJI – Fiji’s opposition National Federation Party has accused the Attorney General and Minister for Elections Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum of again misinforming the people about his role.

This comes after the minister restated that a previous prime minister was also elections minister.

Sayed-Khaiyum also said the National Federation Party’s Biman Prasad and Sodelpa’s Semesa Karavaki tried to twist facts during the debate on amendments to the Electoral Act.

But the NFP leader has hit back, saying there has never been anything like him in any previous government.

Dr Prasad said Sayed Khaiyum says he cannot run away from the fact that he is the Minister for Elections – as well as the General Secretary and Registered Officer for the Fiji First Party.

“What we are basically saying is that the Election Commission is an independent constitutional office in charge of elections. And the Supervisor of Elections, an independent appointment, also must work under the direction of the Election Commission.

What we find, and this is well observed by the former election commissioners in their report of 2014 and also observed by the multi national observer group, that the election process and the election rules need to change in order to bring about a free and fair environment in which to have the election.

So what we have now is the Minister for Elections, the Attorney General who is also the General Secretary for the Fiji First Party and this is the first time in the history of Fiji there has been a portfolio for Minister for Elections.”

However, Sayed Khaiyum is disputing this, claiming that there have been ministers of elections before.

Dr Prasad said that is entirely incorrect.

“In the previous regime of government, the elections office came under the Prime Ministers Office, purely for administrative purposes, and for its budget, but the Election Commission always was an independent commission directing the affairs of the elections office and making sure that the conduct of the election, and the laws relating to the election were independent of the government or the prime minister at that time.

So there was never a designated portfolio called the elections portfolio, or we never had a Minister for Elections. That is the difference.

We are calling on the Prime Minister to ask the Attorney General to give up the so-called portfolio for Minister for Elections.

The elections office must come under the Prime Minister’s office, purely for election purposes/

“Athe Election Commission must be allowed to work independently, as observed by the Appeals Court in the judgement on the case that the last Election Commission took to the court, and remove any suggestion of conflict of interest between the minister in charge of elections, as it is now, and the Election Commission and the Supervisor of Elections.

- RNZI