World

Ballot boxes ready ahead of Fiji election

20:44 pm on 16 September 2014

Ballot boxes have been delivered to polling stations in Fiji in preparation for tomorrow's vote.

A man looks at the list of candidates for the up coming election in Suva. Photo: AFP

The elections office says that everything is ready for the first election in more than eight years.

The ballot boxes will be guarded by police overnight, as will three boxes of votes cast in pre-polling.

More than 1400 stations have been set up around the country and people have been told which station to use.

The police commissioner said more than 3000 officers would assist with security and the police issued a statement to quash rumours of a curfew after voting ends at 6pm tomorrow.

A full group of nearly 90 election observers is now on the ground in Fiji ahead of the election.

All campaigning has ended and there is a media blackout on any political reporting.

The international group of observers come from at least a dozen different countries including Japan, Israel, Russia as well as New Zealand, Australia and neighbouring Pacific countries.

Some of the team have been in Fiji since the middle of last month and have been observing the early voting that has been going on in remote areas.

The joint leader of the team, Peter Reith, said they were there to ensure the election was above board and to do that observers had been out speaking to the people.

"I think we can say fairly that we've not seen any evidence of fraud or corruption. But that's not to say we're not listening. We are listening."