Registration to open for Fijian voters overseas

By Mereoni Mili

ELIGIBLE Fijian voters in other Pacific Island nations will be able to register to vote  following the deployment of registration teams this month.

This was announced by the newly-installed Electoral Commission chair, Suresh Chandra, today.

“I strongly urge all eligible Fijians to come forward and take advantage of the voter services that will be available through these teams,” he said in a press statement.

Chandra said five registration teams will be deployed by the Fiji Elections Office and will be expected to complete registrations in 11 Pacific Island countries within a month.

This registration drive will start on March 17 and end on April 7.

Eligible Fijians are required to produce a valid Fijian passport in order to register.

In addition to registering the first-time eligible Fijian voters, the teams will also update voter registration details, issue replacements for lost Electronic Voter Registration [EVR] cards and host information sessions.

The teams will be deployed to the following 11 countries: Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue, Nauru, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Chandra, a lawyer by profession, is a former chairperson of the 2008 Electoral Boundaries Commission.

Other members of the commission are Simione Naiduki, Margot Jenkins, Graham Southwick, Jawahar Lai, Kavita Raniga, and Ratu Paula Halaiwalu. They were appointed on February 3 this year.