Fifty-three villages across Fiji have been brought into municipal service areas and will take part in the upcoming Local Government Elections, the Ministry of Local Government has confirmed.
Permanent secretary Seema Sharma said the villages were folded into the service zones of 13 municipal councils after review of town boundaries. She told reporters many local boundaries had not been updated “in a number of years” and that informal settlements and villages on town outskirts were already receiving municipal services, often subsidised by government. “They get waste management services and at the moment you have certain villages that fall around a two-kilometre radius outside of the town boundary that have been included into these town boundaries for services to be provided,” she said.
Because those communities now fall within municipal service areas, Sharma said they have been added to the nearest electoral wards and will be eligible to vote in the Local Government Elections. “That means they have the right to vote because these are people who’ve been using these services. But they also need to contribute to the decision making,” she said, framing the move as both practical and democratic.
The ministry emphasised the change is limited in scope: only residents who live within designated municipal service boundaries will be able to participate in local government voting. Sharma reiterated that the entire nation will not be voting in these polls, stressing that people who remain outside municipal jurisdictions will not be part of local government elections because they do not form part of municipal boundaries.
The announcement follows broader election preparations being rolled out nationally. The Fijian Elections Office and the Ministry of Local Government have been conducting civic awareness drives and volunteer programmes to boost voter engagement ahead of the polls, part of a push to ensure communities understand the functions of councils and the roles of councillors. Those campaigns could prove important in newly included villages, where residents will need information about ward arrangements and how to register.
Local councils will face practical tasks next: updating electoral rolls and integrating service provision arrangements for the newly included villages, from waste collection to other municipal amenities. The ministry’s clarification that the villages are being included specifically for services underscores the administrative rationale behind the boundary adjustments, but also raises questions about how councils will fund and manage expanded service responsibilities.
Ministry officials say the boundary inclusions were made to reflect de facto service delivery and to give those communities a voice in the councils that now provide for them. Municipal authorities and electoral agencies are expected to finalise ward lists and continue voter education in the lead-up to the elections.
Leave a comment