Nine of the 12 candidates whose applications to contest Fiji’s 2022 General Election were declined were turned down because of a previous conviction, whilst one related to citizenship and two others, on residency grounds.
Applications that were rejected because of a conviction included that of Simeli Tuiteci who had applied under a SODELPA ticket, People’s Alliance Daniel Urai, Fiji Labour Party duo Shaireen Nur Nisha and Noel Nitesh Chand, Unity Fiji’s Mohammed Riyaz Khan and Rt Ifereimi Camaisala, National Federation Party’s Sekonaia Rabukadudua, We Unite Fiji’s Samuela Nabore and All Peoples Party’s Apimeleki Lalavanua II.
People’s Alliance Amjad Ali and Jalesi Nakarawa did not meet section 23(4c) requiring candidates to have been ordinarily resident in Fiji for at least two years immediately before being nominated. Peter Jeffery Ray of ‘We Unite Fiji’ was ruled out as a candidate because he failed to meet section 23(4a) which sets out that a candidate must be a citizen of Fiji and not hold citizenship of any other country.
The 12 were among 356 applications that were submitted to the Fijian Elections Office of which 342 were endorsed and two others, both submitted by SODELPA, were withdrawn.
The 342 applications, however, are subjected to the appeals and objection phase which opened at 8 this morning, closing at 4pm today. The Electoral Commission will then rule on the objections and appeals to determine the final number of candidates to contest the 2022 election.
“Once the decision of the electoral commission is received, the FEO will proceed to finalise the candidates,” Mr. Saneem said.
Upon finalisation of the candidates’ list, the FEO will prepare for the national candidate list ball draw scheduled to be conducted this Friday.
