News

SODELPA suspension lifted

June 29, 2020 4:55 pm

Emele Duituturaga has also been approved as the register officer of the party.

The suspension against the Social Democratic Liberal Party has been lifted with immediate effect.

Registrar of Political Parties Mohammed Saneem says the Party has complied with all requirements and can now operate as a political entity.

Party General Secretary Emele Duituturaga has also been approved as the Registerd Officer of SODELPA.

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In suspending the Party, Saneem had directed it to submit a final version of a Constitution, submit audited accounts for 2019 and to appoint a General Secretary who would also be the Registered Officer.

The Parliament secretariat has also been informed that SODELPA is no longer suspended, as the Party was not allowed to access the Opposition office or enter the parliament precinct during its suspension.

Saneem has also confirmed that various factions of SODELPA must now use the Party machinery to resolve issues as the Registrar will not be involved in its day to day operations.

“The Party is now fully functional and is no longer suspended. The Registrar only facilitated a lot of these meetings so as to ensure there is no confusion in the Party and also because there was known lack of communication between various factions within the Party.”

SODELPA will now hold a Special General Meeting on 25th July to deal with the deferment of its Annual General Meeting, adopt audited financial statements for 2019 and to adopt a process for the selection of Party Leader.

The casual appointments Acting President Vijay Singh and two Vice Presidents expires tomorrow, Saneem says the Special General Meeting is the best avenue for sorting this out.

This is the Registrar’s interpretation that the constitutional appointments – in terms of casual appointments will  need to be reviewed and renewed and that has to be done either by powers given to officials by the Special General Meeting or the SGM could just appoint a date for the election and all these positions could be filled through the proper Constitutional process.”

Emele Duituturaga’s appointment as General Secretary and Registered Officer was not signed by Party Leader Sitiveni Rabuka.