23 Aug 2014

Boycott at Fiji's elections candidate list draw

1:30 pm on 23 August 2014

Fiji's Electoral Commission has boycotted today's national candidate list draw at the Fijian Elections Office.

The Fiji Live website says this follows the Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, not considering decisions on eligibility made by the commission on Friday afternoon.

The list draw is to allocate numbers to the 248 qualified candidates.

That is the number of candidates accepted by Tuesday of this week.

Mr Saneem's ruling means FijiFirst candidate Praveen Bala Kumar who was disqualified by the Electoral Commission on Friday night can still contest the September 17 elections.

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Photo: RNZ

And Fiji Labour Party's Steven Singh from Labasa sits out.

Fiji Live reports the Commission chairman Chen Bunn Young saying they could not support the decision made by Mr Saneem and had directed him not to proceed.

The Supervisor of Elections deemed the amendments made by the Commission arrived after the stipulated cut off point of 4pm.

Mr Young says they are seeking a legal opinion on the matter.

Mr Saneem says he was acting within the boundaries of the Electoral Decree when he decided not to consider the Commission's decision because they had gone past the cut-off time.