The Fijian Elections Office has to date processed more than 200 name change applications of which 77 percent were from female voters.
Since name change applications opened in 2021, the FEO has attended to 223 requests – 201 received in 2021 from 48 males and 153 females, and since the start of 2022 received 22 applications from 19 females and three males.
The service is free of charge, says Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem adding that voters only need to turn up to any FEO office or voter registration booth.
Outlining the name change application process, Saneem said: “We will provide you with the application form and in the form, you can consent to the Fijian elections uplifting your birth certificate and delivering it to you. So usually the voters set up a collection point. So once they filled up the form they give us a copy, they give us their birth certificate they also at the same time fill out the voter registration form. We process the birth certificate on their behalf with the births, death, and marriages department and once the new birth certificate is issued we prepare their new voter card then we call the voter, and either we deliver it to the voter’s residence or the voter collects from the nearest voters service center. That is the service is free of charge.”
Voters who would like to access this service can do so as well during the launch of the voter registration drive in the central, northern and western divisions, starting this Saturday. A team from the BDM Registry will also be present at the venues (Click on dates to view venues for Saturday 26 Feb and Sunday 27 Feb) to assist those who will need their birth certificates to register or update their voter cards.
Meanwhile, the 2022 Nationwide Registration and Awareness Drive and the Know Your Election Campaign proper which covers all four divisions including the maritime areas kick-start Monday 28 February through 2 April 2022.
The schedules for the different divisions are as follows:
1. Central Division: https://www.feo.org.fj/kye-nrd-schedule-central_final/
2. Western Division: https://www.feo.org.fj/kye-nrd-schedule-western_final/
3. Northern Division: https://www.feo.org.fj/nrd-schedule-northern_final/
4. Eastern Division: https://www.feo.org.fj/nrd-schedule-eastern_final/
