Ritika Pratap 
The Fijian Elections Office is repairing its relationships with important partners before the next general election.
Acting Supervisor of Elections, Ana Mataiciwa, says they had previously strained connections with political parties, media, and civil society groups.
Mataiciwa also emphasizes that voting is a democratic right for everyone, and people should not be afraid of making mistakes or getting arrested when they go to the polling stations.
“Now we are trying to restore it. It has been a humbling experience where we just had to activate our humility spirit when we receive feedbacks from them and the things that they had gone through previously with the Elections Office.”
Mataiciwa further mentions that during their review, they found that there was too much information, often leaving people confused about what they can or cannot do.
She explains that they are currently focused on shifting the mindset of stakeholders regarding the FEO.
“Most of the time we are out there saying you have to do this, don’t do that. But then again we want to make our work more inclusive now and just have that engagement with our stakeholders’ and come back to their level so that we can conduct that election in a freer manner rather than in a fear manner that have been happening previously.”
The acting SOE points out that many handbooks were distributed last year, but they were too complex for regular Fijians to grasp.
She mentions that they are currently making these handbooks user-friendly.
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