A Pacific regional analyst says the new Fiji electoral decree is extensive and provides reassurance that state agencies won't be misused in the planned poll on September the 17th.
The government has gazetted an Electoral Decree, coinciding with the appointment of a new Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem.
One of the decree's clauses disallows any use of state authority to pressure or intimidate political opposition.
Tess Newton-Cain, a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, working on the Melanesia Programme, says that through this type of clause, the decree provides for the election to proceed as unfettered as possible.
"It puts the regime on notice, it puts the police on notice, it puts the military on notice. I think we'd be a bit concerned if there wasn't a provision of that sort. It's a very extensive decree. It covers all of the different parts of the process."
Tess Newton-Cain.
