The Registrar of Political Parties is working with the registered parties, auditors and the Fiji Institute of Accountants to develop guidelines for the audit of parties accounts.

Registrar Mohammed Saneem says they have previously found discrepancies in the accounts of political parties and therefore the guidelines are necessary.

Saneem says in future they want the reporting of political party finances to be accurate, transparent and compliant with modern accounting rules.

He adds they have found various issues of non-compliance with standards.

“There are various instances where parties have been referred to the Fiji Independent Commission against Corruption. Whilst that is one arm of the functions of the Registrar, we would still like to work in collaboration with the political parties and develop the framework.”

There are 7 registered political parties in Fiji.

These are FijiFirst, National Federation Party, Social Democratic Liberal Party, Freedom Alliance Party, Fiji Labour Party, Hope and Unity Fiji.