Supervisor of Election Mohammed Saneem.

Supervisor of Election Mohammed Saneem says the Fijian Election Office is carrying out its task in referring any probable breach of the Electoral Act to the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.

His comments comes in light of the People’s Alliance provisional candidate Lynda Tabuya’s allegations and questioning the independence of the Fijian Elections Office.

In a recent Facebook LIVE press conference, Tabuya questioned the integrity of the Fijian Elections Office.

“It begs the question what is going on here? Does this not suggest that both the Minister for Election and the Supervisor of Election are working together to synchronize the attacks on Opposition threats? Does this not appear coordinated?”

However, the Supervisor of Elections refuted Tabuya’s claims saying there is a lack of understanding of the electoral system by her.

“It’s a fundamental failure to understand how the electoral system operates. Political parties are regulated structures within the system. They’re reporting other breaches of other political parties, for that we’re doing enquiries before we execute our tasks in this which is, if there is a probable breach we refer it to FICAC.”

Saneem says the FEO has previously dealt with complaints regarding government Ministers

“When complaints were made earlier, for instance in the 2018 election there was a complaint made regarding a sitting government Minister. The FEO referred it to FICAC and what was the position of Ms. Tabuya at that time?”

The Supervisor of Elections has clarified the sections of the Electoral Act that clearly stipulate what is considered as either a vote-buying tactic or bribery, an offence under the law.