Individuals wishing to contest the upcoming General Election under the FijiFirst banner need to subscribe to and believe in the ideals and values of the party.

FijiFirst General Secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum emphasized this today when he announced the party’s first batch of 20 proposed candidates.

He says FijiFirst is a responsible political party and they have alerted individuals who are opting to join the party about the consequences of their decision and in particular on how not every candidate can make it to Parliament.

“Once you have that threshold, then obviously we look at various other skill sets that we may have. We were in fact I have to say, without necessarily revealing all the details, we had a large number of young people applying. We’ve had people who actually just started their first year of university who have actually applied, people who just finished university. So it is obvious that a lot of young people find FijiFirst attractive the sense of the values and principles.”

Sayed-Khaiyum says the party also wants to ensure that proposed candidates have good financial backing in the event they don’t make it to Parliament because the party does not want to be greedy about this process.

He also confirmed that 26 sitting government MP’s have also applied for a ticket to contest the election under FijiFirst.

The lineup includes former Republic of Fiji Military Forces Commander Viliame Naupoto, former Land Transport Authority CEO Naisa Tuinaceva, mainstream journalist Aliki Bia and former PS for Foreign affairs, and High Commissioner Iowane Naivalarua.

The other proposed candidates are lawyer Ratu Josefa Niudamu, Sugar Cane Growers councillor from Vanua Levu Mohammed Rafiq, Social Worker Zarina Begum Reece, former teachers Elaine Veena Chandra, and Vereniki Sauturaga, former Assistant Roko Tui of Lau and Namosi, Watisoni Raikadroka, former senior lecturer Hem Chand, dentist Penioni Ravunawa, former General Manager Operations of Fiji Pine Asesela Cokanacagi, a former senior officer of the Social Welfare Department, Iferemi Sowata, former Police Sergeant Penijamini Vukivou, former Police officer, Jacob Abraham, former Assistant Principal and Secretary of the Sanatan Dharm Rewa Branch Shalen Kumar, President of the Fiji Disabled Persons Association and former teacher, Peniasi Rawaidranu and Executive Director of Smart Farms, Rinesh Sharma and commercial farmer Meleti Raimuria.