1 Aug 2014

Numbers, not name, reason for One Fiji party rejection

7:36 pm on 1 August 2014

The proposed One Fiji party says its application was rejected by the Registrar of Political Parties because it didn't provide enough signatures to meet the registration criteria.

On Wednesday, the regime leader, Rear Admiral Frank Bainimarama's political party, Fiji First, objected to the One Fiji application.

It's general secretary, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum - who is also the elections minister - said people could get confused because the word 'One' in the party name is similar to the word 'First'.

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Fiji's Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem Photo: RNZ

Fiji live reports that the proposed party's chairman, Filimoni Vosarogo, says that the registrar, Mohammed Saneem, told him that the lack of signatures was the only reason the application was rejected.

Mr Vosarogo says his proposed party is hopeful that it can still be registered on Monday after the signatures that were declared invalid have been reconsidered by the registrar of elections.