With twenty-five days remaining for the country’s first democratic election in eight years, political parties are calling on the Bainimarama government to go into a care taker government mode.

The call has been made by the National Federation Party and Peoples Democratic Party.

NFP leader Biman Prasad says in the past the current government must go into caretaker mode.

“They should not be using any type of government advertisements, there are government advertisement going in media about what they have done- The Electoral Commission must take note of this – the Electoral Commission must insist that the government should completely go into caretaker mode and do not use state resources to campaign.”

PDP leader Felix Anthony also shared similar sentiments.

“This government really should be in a caretaker mode at the moment and not be behaving like an elected government with the full mandate to do whatever it wishes. It’s not doing that – it is going around giving goodies to people as if there is no tomorrow.”

And late yesterday afternoon the Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the political parties are creating a smoke screen by calling for a caretaker government.

“What do they mean by using funds – government is still running and if there is any misappropriation obviously they need to come forward with facts, as opposed to simply making wild statements and allegations –which obviously they have become known for. And essentially it is a distraction in their part and what they need to do is focus on elections and we have said regarding all government accounts the Public Accounts Committee will be able to review all auditor general’s reports and that is how you will see facts from the allegations.”

There is no provision in the 2013 Constitution for a caretaker government.

A caretaker government operates for an interim period between the normal dissolution of parliament for the purpose of holding an election and the formation of a new government after the election results are known.