The Fijian Elections Office is being assisted by the New Zealand Government forking out for the salary of the Deputy Supervisor of Elections – Karyl Winter.

Supervisor of Elections – Mohammed Saneem says the New Zealand government has been a core partner over the last three years helping the FEO build capacity and providing technical assistance as and when needed.

“This year we specifically requested for assistance from NZ particularly to fund the position of the Deputy Supervisor who as you know is Karyl Winter and expatriate salaries are considerably higher than Fiji so we sort assistance from NZ in terms of topping up the salary."

Speaking to Radio Tarana, NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters says their support advocates for a free and fair election adding that they will help out with the construction of the election.

This assistance Saneem highlighted is in addition to the more than 15,000 cardboard voting screens that the NZ government has donated.

Meanwhile, tomorrow the Elections Office will officiate the hand-over of indelible ink from the Indian Government.