Fiji’s Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem neither denied nor confirmed claims that he tendered his resignation, but said a social media post by the Fiji Labour Party stating that he was forced to resign was fake.
Saneem told members of the media that he had “no comments” to make when posed questions relating to his resignation however Minister for Elections and Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had told a press conference on Saturday evening that Saneem has not resigned.
The SOE however described as “fake news” a facebook posting by FLP yesterday that claimed that he was forced to resign over allegations of abuse of office involving former Electoral Commission Chairperson Suresh Chandra.
“At the moment, those are false information,” Saneem said, “We will consider taking some action which we will be making public for you in the coming hours. You will be most likely be looking at one of the first notices under section 144 A of the Electoral Act.”
Section 144A of the Electoral Act outlines procedures to be followed when a person or political party publishes information deemed to be false. Once notified by the SOE, the publisher of the information is required to remove or correct the statement immediately. The publisher has the opportunity to request the EC to review the SOE’s decision. The EC is then required to make a decision within 24 hours of receiving the review request. A person or political party that does not comply with Section 144A, if convicted, faces a fine of up to $50,000 and/or 5-year jail term.
In their latest posting today, the FLP said it is sticking by its Sunday update that Saneem had resigned.
