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Issue No: 737; 8 May 2001
The National Farmers Union is taking legal action over the decisions of the returning officers in at least 4 of the 38 sectors. Irregularities have been found in vote tallying and vote counting in the Malau and Ellington sectors in Rakiraki, the Natua sector in Seaqaqa, and the Saweni sector in Lautoka. In some of the sectors, ballot papers have not been accounted for, and invalid votes have been allowed for the opposing candidates. Earlier, before the election, the Returning Officer in Rakiraki had wrongly disqualified a NFU candidate from standing for the election. The decision was changed after the NFU sought legal redress. The candidate went on to win the election. The NFU won 21 of the 38 sectors. Full results are found at: http://www.pcgov.org.fj/docs_o/scgc_results_2001.htm Meanwhile the CEO of the Sugar Cane Growers Council, Jaganath Sami has sated that he is in consultation with the regime's Sugar Minister to finalise the nomination of 8 government appointees to the Council. Sami is the founding member of the Fiji Cane Growers Association which lost the election on Saturday. It is expected that the regime's appointees would align themselves against the NFU. In another development, a key NFU campaigner in Labasa had his sugar cane farm set on fire as the election was proceeding. Dewan Chand, the organiser of the NFU in Labasa stated that this happens during all the elections and he will not be reporting the matter to the police as police have always failed to apprehend the culprits. |
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People's Coalition Government - Fiji Islands |
