Political parties have reacted to the strong statement over the weekend by Fiji First Leader Voreqe Bainimarama that the 2014 Polls will be nothing more than a two party horse race.
Bainimarama had said the real battle is now between his Fiji First party and SODELPA.
Today other parties came out firing saying we will only know for sure, come September 17th. The Fiji First leaders strong statement that it was now only a two horse race between them and SODELPA has certainly irritated other political players.
“The leader of Fiji First obviously has jumped the gun, the race is not over, we haven’t yet reach the finish line, so we have the next two weeks…and any political leader who’s jumping the Gun is not respecting the wish and will of the voters…so he should wait, respect the will of the voter,” said NFP party leader, Dr Biman Prasad.
As expected, other parties are also confident of their chances.
“We believe, there is certainly some misunderstanding and quite possibly misinformation about ground support. We firmly are of the view that the One Fiji Party is going to compete and compete very well in this elections,” said One Fiji Party leader, Filimoni Vosarogo.
PDP thinks this is nothing more than just political maneuvering.
“Fiji First does not want to have to deal with multiple parties in opposition…so for Frank to talk down the chances of any other parties is really a strategy for him; he wants the people of Fiji to think that its just a two horse race,” said Peoples Democratic Party general secretary, Lynda Tabuya.
Not wanting to be ruled out, political parties say it’s not over, until the final ballot is cast and tallied up.
“This might be the record for NFP in terms of attracting the number of Fijian votes to the party and for one good reason…because we have some of the best indigenous Fijian candidates including the Party President, our women candidates , our men candidates…people of repute, people of intergrity, honesty and a record of service,” Prasad said.
“We are also on the ground, and our support we’ve being talking to people all around the country and we feel it is not going to be just a two way race…its obviously going to be a very exciting election and weare looking forward to occupying seats in the next parliament,” Vosarogo said.
“This is something that we need to address to look at very carefully because this is the beauty of this electoral system is that the voter who vote individuals that have the chances of winning the majority is low..that is the first thing that will happen in this system…and that any coalition formed will be forced to build relationship, to negotiate and compromise with the greater voting section of the public,” Tabuya said.
http://fijione.tv/political-parties-lash-out-at-bainimarama-statement/