The Fijian Elections Office yesterday clarified their role towards the Electoral Commission. Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem, while making submissions on the Multi-National Observer Group and the Electoral Commission report before the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights, said their role was to provide secretarial services to the commission. He said this included funding, allowances, travelling and meeting allowances, and other administrative requirements. Mr Saneem said for the past two years they had considered all request and requirements put forward by the commission.
“The Electoral Commission doesn’t sit on a daily basis but ad hock and they don’t require a large number of staff. The key functions of the Fijian Elections Office is to record minutes, carry out administrative functions such as organising transport, accommodation, meals, tea and meeting preparation requirements,” he said.
Mr Saneem said during the 2014 General Elections, the commission did not provide any fixed calendars of their sittings as expected because of immense task at hand. This was the same for 2015 and 2016. This meant that they did ad hock sittings and required emergency arrangements to be made.
He said as a matter of good practice the office submitted quarterly reports to the commission based on its strategic plans. Mr Saneem said their strategic plan for the year 2015-2019 consisted of their comprehensive calendar outlining all their activities for the next two to three years.
Full Article: Fijian Elections Office Clarifies Its Role | Fiji Sun.
