Sainimili Magimagi 
[Photo: FILE]
The eight-year ban preventing convicted individuals from contesting elections is being challenged as unfair and excessive.
Making submissions to the Constitution Review Commission, Felix Anthony says Section 56 of the Constitution needs to be revisited, particularly the provisions relating to candidate eligibility.
Anthony says the current law disqualifies individuals from standing in elections for up to eight years if they have a conviction with a jail term of one year or more.
He argues this blanket approach does not distinguish between serious crimes and minor offences.
Anthony highlighted cases where individuals convicted of minor offences, such as driving-related incidents, were disqualified despite receiving lesser penalties.
“You know, this unfairly, actually, you know, even for minor offenses where the jail term is more than a year, you can be disqualified for standing for elections. And we’ve seen some real experiences in this regard where people get booked for driving offenses or things like that, where the jail term is a year or more, even though they will, you know, given lesser punishment, they were disqualified from standing for elections.”
He says this is unjust and limits participation in the democratic process.
The FTUC General Secretary says while serious offences like fraud should remain grounds for disqualification, minor offences should not carry the same weight.
Anthony is calling on the Commission to review the provision to ensure fairness and proportionality in the electoral system.
