Apenisa Waqairadovu 
[Photo: File]
The Social Democratic Liberal Party claims it was robbed at the last election, accusing some of its former allies of jumping ship at the last minute.
The claim was made by SODELPA’s former General Secretary and aspiring candidate, Viliame Takayawa, during submissions on the three electoral bills before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights.
Takayawa says some political parties and individuals associated with SODELPA appeared to voters to still be part of the party, but switched allegiance on Election Day.
“It’s just that it’s last election, we were robbed. Some of the other political parties who belong to SODELPA were in the image that they were still Soudelpa, but they just changed over on the day of the raid.”
Takayawa says this is one of the issues SODELPA remains concerned about as further changes to the electoral laws are being considered.
He says the party has been through four elections and has experienced problems with election officials understanding changes to electoral rules.
Takayawa is also warning that insufficient time to educate voters and officials on new laws could create further confusion.
He says the Government must ensure electoral reforms strengthen, rather than weaken, accountability.
