Pacific

Fiji PDP 'shocked' at court decision

07:50 am on 26 August 2014

Fiji's People's Democratic Party says it is shocked by a High Court decision backing the Supervisor of Elections, who has dismissed directives from the Electoral Commission.

The Commission reviewed the eligibility of some candidates, but Mohammed Saneem ruled its decision to include the Fiji Labour Party's Steven Singh and rule out the FijiFirst candidate Praveen Bala Kumar, arrived too late.

The PDP's Aman Ravindra-Singh says the Commission has the power to direct the supervisor and shouldn't be hindered by a narrow interpretation of the decree.

"So the law is very clear as to what and how things should have been done. However we are shocked at how the supervisor of elections has intervened and in fact caused a ripple effect, which for us in PDP, screams of unfairness."

Aman Ravindra-Singh says Mohammed Saneem has compromised the independence of his position by taking advice from the Solicitor-General's office.