A man convicted of electoral offences has had his voting privileges barred in the Suva Magistrates Court today.

Rajnil Pratap Sobha is also sentenced to 22 months imprisonment with one year to be served in custody and the remaining 10 months suspended for five years.

He was also disqualified from being registered as a voter or voting in any election for five years.

In delivering the Sentence, the Magistrate said that the offences were a serious threat to the democratic process of elections in Fiji.

Furthermore, he declared that it undermined the whole system and could have damaged the public trust on the democratic election system of the country and put the whole process into disrepute.

The Fiji Independent Commission against Corruption had charged Sobha with one count each of false declaration on an application for voter registration, false declaration on an application for replacement of electronic voter registration card and applying to be registered as a voter on more than one occasion.

Sobha had registered to be a voter in Ba using a false name and date of birth and then proceeded to use this false information and declaration to be issued an upgraded voter card in Nadi, before finally using his real name to register as a voter in Suva.