Press Release

Prime Minister announces 2006
General Election Dates

The 2006 General Elections are to be held from the 6th to the 13th of May, 2006.

This was announced today by the Prime Minister, Honourable Laisenia Qarase.

His announcement follows a Proclamation by the Acting President, H.E Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, on Tuesday, 28th February, 2006, that Parliament is to be dissolved on the 27th March, 2006. The Proclamation was published in a special issue of the Government Gazette last night.

In accordance with Fiji’s Constitution, the Writs for the Elections will issue within seven days from the date of Dissolution of Parliament.

Nomination of candidates for the Elections will take place within 14 days from the date the Writs for the Elections are issued.

Polling is required to be held within 30 days from the closing of nomination of candidates.

The polling dates of 6th to the 13th May, 2006 inclusive, fall within this constitutionally stipulated time frame.

To allow for the use of schools as polling centres, the Ministry of Education is being asked to extend Term 1 to Friday 5th May, 2006. This means that the commencement of Term 2 will be moved back to Tuesday 23rd May, 2006.

In advising the Acting President to dissolve Parliament on 27th March, 2006, to allow for the General Elections, the Prime Minister has taken into account information he has received from both the Constituency Boundaries Commission (CBC) and the Elections Office on their preparations and readiness for the Elections.

In a report issued last Friday, the CBC announced that it has decided not to make any change to the existing constituency boundaries.

Also last week, the Supervisor of Elections wrote to the Prime Minister to convey assurances on behalf of the Electoral Commission and the Office of the Supervisor of Elections that all necessary preparations were well in hand for the 2006 General Elections to be conducted any time from the middle of April 2006.

The Supervisor of Elections also indicated that the registration of voters would continue also indicated that the registration of voters would continue until seven days after the Writs of Election are issued.

During this period, the Elections Office will complete the registration of voters. It will also be doing its best to rectify and identified and reported anomalies in the registration of voters. Political parties and others who have concerns about the current registration of voters should make these known directly to the Elections Office. The Office has distributed provisional rolls for public scrutiny precisely to allow for any corrections to be made, and for those not yet on the register to register themselves.

The Prime Minister also announced that on behalf of Government, he would be extending invitations to the Commonwealth, the United Nations, the European Union, the Pacific Islands Forum, and, bilaterally, to Australia and NZ, to send Observers to monitor the Elections in Fiji.

The PM will also write to Vice Chancellor of the USP to invite its School of Governance to monitor the Elections in close liaison and co-ordination with the Office of the Supervisor of Elections.

Mr Qarase explained that Government was doing this because it has full confidence in the Electoral Commission and the Office of the Supervisor of Elections in independently conducting the General Elections in a free, open, fair and impartial manner, and with full transparency.

To facilitate the success of the General Elections, Government is providing the Elections Office will all necessary resources. Government has this week received from the Elections Office a request for a further $7.6million to cover the balance of the estimated total cost of the 2006 General Elections.

The Ministry of Finance & National Planning has been asked to provide these additional funds from within Government’s approved 2006 Budget.

The dissolution of Parliament on 27th March, 2006, will allow the senate to hold its schedule sitting from 6th to 17th March, 2006.

Once Parliament has been dissolved on 27th March, 2006, the current Government becomes a caretaker Administration. All Ministers will continue to perform their ministerial functions and responsibilities until the new Government is appointed by the President following the General Elections.