20 Mar 2017

Fiji begins voter rego drive in Pacific

4:13 pm on 20 March 2017

Fiji has set up voter registration points in four Pacific island countries for expatriate Fijians wanting to vote in the next election.

Voters queue at John Wesley College in Fiji

Voters queue at John Wesley College in Fiji in 2014. Photo: RNZ / Philippa Tolley

The polls are due by September next year.

Fiji's Electoral Commission said its Pacific islands registration drive began on Friday in Tonga and would continue for the next two weeks through the Cook Islands, Kiribati and American Samoa.

People need to be at least 18 and have a valid Fijian passport.

In the 2014 election, 5506 Fijians living overseas were registered to vote.

In previous elections, voters needed to have lived in Fiji for at least two years before election day.

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