The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) organised Polling, Counting and Results module

The BRIDGE Polling, Counting and Results module workshop was organised by the Fijian Electoral Education Centre (FEEC), the education and capacity building arm of the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) from 13 to 15 December, 2016. This was the ninth BRIDGE event organised by the FEEC since the 2014 General Election. All BRIDGE workshops have been organised in line with Goal Eight of the Strategic Plan “To enhance the knowledge and skills of FEO staff and stakeholders’ through training and capacity building”

The workshop was opened by Electoral Commission (EC) member, Father David Arms In his keynote address, EC member Father Arms highlighted that a successful and credible election will pin on the appropriate skills and knowledge undertaken by administrators to organise and deliver the electoral processes.

There were twenty one participants for this workshop in which eleven of them were females while the rest were males.

In his opening speech, Supervisor of Elections, Mr Mohammed Saneem said that this workshop was essential in the lead up to the 2018 General Election. The expectation will be high and staff should comprehend some of the internationally accepted principles and norms around polling, counting and tabulation of results.

The 3 days event had opened doors to many discussions, thoughts, ideas on the current procedures in place and other many technical aspects of the main electoral process. Many participants highlighted in their evaluation the great opportunity given to grasp the entire process in the three days as they were concentrated only on their own areas of work. The difference in counting for General Election and a Trade Union election was also highlighted as both utilise the same principles but the procedures may slightly differ.

The workshop was closed by the Supervisor of Elections who in his speech reminded staff about the importance of following procedures and conducting themselves within the laws. He emphasised on staff to be pedantic on each process in the lead up to the 2018 General Election.

The module objectives were met and all participants were awarded a certificate of completion.