The government will soon introduce a new Decree to bring about more accountability and transparency in political parties contesting the 2014 general elections.
Political parties will have to come clean on who funds their operations, who will stand under the party banner and who their office bearers are.
Elections Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says these are pre-requisites for any political party to contest the 2014 general elections.
“As you may be aware, the rules pertaining to the formation or registration of political parties in Fiji is rather archaic, so what we’re looking at, for example, increasing the threshold of the numbers required to register or re-register political parties. Whether they need support all divisions of Fiji. It is also critical that the assets and liabilities of political parties are made public.”
Sayed-Khaiyum says any person who wants to show support for any political party will have to register under the EVR by Friday.
“Those political parties will need to be properly registered. In order for them to be properly registered, they need to meet the threshold of support. And the support can only come from those people who are actually registered voters through the EVR system.”
Individuals who want to stand in the elections must register by Friday or they don’t qualify for elections.
