[Source: Dialogue Fiji / Facebook]

Suva lawyer Jon Apted says politics costs money.

Apted was responding to Rani Mohammed, a participant at a recent panel discussion on “Breaking Barriers: Increasing Female Participation in Local Government Elections in Fiji.”

Mohammed proposed creating a more equitable system to allow women to participate in the General and Municipal Elections regardless of their financial background.

She claimed that the financial requirements for becoming a candidate are a constraint for many women.

“What are we doing to ensure a more equitable system where female candidates are given equal opportunity, irrespective of their financial background? Are there strategies or initiatives in place, or hopefully, there will be?”

In response, panelist Jon Apted stated that, unfortunately, politics costs money, and anyone wanting to join an election will have to find ways to access financial support.

However, he claimed that the problem with Fiji’s legal framework is that it is designed to imprison people for minor accounting slip-ups.

“That’s one of the big impediments to political participation by anyone, whether male or female, is these crazy political finance rules that we have, and the draconian penalties that apply. Under the current laws, which will apply to local government, if you don’t account for money that you got from selling raffle tickets and they discover it in your audit, you can be charged and sent to jail for something really quite innocent.”

Apted says that under the current laws, one must find the money to meet certain requirements.

He highlighted that the current rules necessitate that candidates handle this carefully and legally, and this applies to both men and women.