Pacific

Alleged incident in Fiji pre-polling referred

10:09 am on 4 September 2014

Fiji's Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem has confirmed that an alleged incident during yesterday's pre-polling for the election has been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

The incident involved an elderly couple who have qualified for postal voting whereby ballot papers are delivered by the courier company DHL.

They claim the courier who brought their papers attempted to force them to vote for the Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama against their wishes.

The couple subsequently lodged a complaint at the electoral office, and have been interviewed by police.

Mr Saneem says his office has been made aware of the incident, but expressed frustration that the complainant didn't provide documentation.

"Very uncooperative with us. However having received very little information about the incident, just finding out that there is a possibility that there might be a breach of the electoral decree, we have referred the matter to FICAC (Fiji's Independent Commission Against Corruption) and FICAC will be taking neccessary actions on this, and I understand that the matter is being investigated by the investigating authorities."

Photo: RNZ

Meanwhile Mohammed Saneem says that pre-polling generally began smoothly.

Mr Saneem says that 68 pre-poll centres opened on time in Western, Central and Northern.

A total number of 8029 people voted during the day.

A further 76 centres will operate today, including in the Eastern division.