The Electoral Commissioner, Faimalomatumua Matthew Lemisio, has issued a warning to village councils to respect individuals’ voting rights.

The appeal, the Electoral Commissioner said, follows complaints from voters feeling influenced to vote for villages’ preferred candidates. 

“The advice is directed to the village councils to please, not interfere with the rights of voters,” the Electoral Commissioner said on his programme on the state-owned radio station 2AP.

“There is emphasis on [newly approved] law, placed on communal rights, but it does not take away individual rights, as both are stipulated under the law.”

The Electoral Commissioner said processes to protect the integrity of individual voting rights had been in place since 1963.

“This means that once you have received your electoral document for your vote and you walk into a small secluded room, only you are in there,” Faimalo said. 

“This room, under the law, allows you to vote freely; your vote is entirely up to you, as stipulated under the law.

“No one would know [your vote], not even the officers of the Electoral Commission. That means your vote is protected and that [vote] should remain a secret and you should not tell anyone.” 

He added that candidate endorsements by village councils complicated matters relating to the upholding of individual rights. 

“Members of the public [have] lodged complaints to our office for help but all we can do is appeal to the Chiefs of the villages involved to please, allow the public to exercise their rights to vote, which of course was the concept that our forefathers approved [legislation in] 1963, to exercise [individuals’] rights to vote,” Faimalo said.

The Electoral Commissioner assured members of the public that they were protected by law to cast their votes freely. 

“Keep your vote to yourself, don’t tell anyone who you voted for,” Faimalo said in an appeal to avoid tensions arising from political differences. 

Last year, the Member of Parliament for Gagaifomauga No. 3, Fa'aulusau Rosa Duffy-Stowers, raised the same matter in Parliament warning that village councils might exercise undue “influence” over candidates and voters. 

“While measures are in place to protect the rights of the village councils, but at the same time the rights of voters and candidates should be protected as well,” the Human Rights Protection Party M.P. said. 

The M.P. said she had witnessed cases of possible improper influence in previous elections.

She voiced those concerns again during a sitting of Parliament on Tuesday this week as amendments to the Electoral Act 2019 were discussed on the floor of Parliament before being passed into law. 

Fa'aolosau said village councils should not "influence" a candidate's wishes to run for office or on a voter’s decision on whom to vote for. 

“It’s evident in previous elections there are weaknesses in the system and current laws are being implemented to address these concerns to assure the integrity of the election process is intact,” she said.  

“And the same laws cater to protect the rights of candidates if they opt to run for office.” 

The M.P. said the rights of voters and candidates should be upheld to assure they can “freely” cast their vote without influence from a village’s high chiefs.

“I believe that while there are measures in place to protect the rights of the village councils, at the same time the rights of voters and candidates should be protected as well as indicated by our Constitution,” she said. 

“This is to assure there is no influence by the chiefs and I say this with the utmost respect to the chiefs. Also, there should be more police officers around the voting booths.” 

The M.P. offered suggestions for upholding voters' rights to cast free ballots, such as creating legal and physical protections to protect voters from influence. 

“To protect the integrity of the election process the booths should be far away from where the Chiefs are during election times,” she said. 

“This is to [ensure] they cannot influence the voters.

"Police Officers should be there to assure this does not happen. I know there are a number of issues during the elections and it must be addressed in Parliament so the electoral office can address it.”  

Fa'aulusau said several electoral laws had been but not understood by members of the public while appealing for a public information campaign about the Electoral Act.