Former Foreign Minister of Jamaica to Lead Commonwealth Observers for Fiji Islands Elections

Mr K D Knight QC MP, Jamaica’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon announced on 26 April 2006 that the Commonwealth Observer Group for the General Election in Fiji Islands will be led by Jamaica’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K D Knight.

The other eminent persons in the six-member Observer Group are: Paul Bengo, Registrar of Political Parties, Papua New Guinea; the Reverend Canon Grace Kaiso, Chairman, Democracy Monitoring Group, Uganda; Rajabu Rashidi Kiravu, Director of Elections, National Electoral Commission, United Republic of Tanzania; Sheila Roseau, Executive Director, Directorate of Gender Affairs, Antigua and Barbuda; and Beta Tewareka Tentoa, Member of Parliament, Kiribati.

The Observer Group will start work on 1 May 2006. The Observers have been invited in their individual capacities and the views they express regarding the elections will be their own and not those either of their respective Governments or of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The Group is established by the Commonwealth Secretary-General at the request of the Government of Fiji Islands. It is to observe relevant aspects of the organisation and conduct of the General Election scheduled to take place from 6 to 13 May 2006, in accordance with the laws of Fiji Islands. It is to consider the various factors impinging on the credibility of the electoral process as a whole and to determine in its own judgement whether the conditions exist for a free expression of will by the electors and if the results of the elections reflect the wishes of the people.

The Group is to act impartially and independently. It has no executive role; its function is not to supervise but to observe the process as a whole and to form a judgement accordingly. It would also be free to propose to the authorities concerned such action on institutional, procedural and other matters as would assist the holding of such elections.

The Group is to submit its report to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will forward it to the Government of Fiji Islands, the Electoral Commission, the leadership of the political parties taking part in the elections and thereafter to all Commonwealth governments.

The Secretary-General sent a Commonwealth Secretariat Assessment Mission in April 2006, following receipt of an invitation from the Prime Minister of Fiji Islands, Laisenia Qarase. This Assessment Mission established that there would be broad support from the political parties and civil society for the presence of Commonwealth Observers.

The Secretary-General sent a Commonwealth Observer Group to the last General Election in Fiji Islands, held in 2001. Copies of the report of that Observer Group are available on the Secretariat website at http://www.thecommonwealth.org/.