The Electoral Commission – The Electoral Commission Fiji

Chairperson of the Electoral Commission

His Lordship Justice Usaia Ratuvili

Justice Usaia Ratuvili was appointed as the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission on 30 January 2025 for a three-year term by His Excellency the President of Fiji. With an extensive legal career spanning over two (2) decades, he brings a wealth of judicial expertise and leadership to the Commission.

Justice Ratuvili is a graduate of the University of the South Pacific, where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1997 and a Professional Diploma in Legal Practice (PDLP) in 1998. In 2007, he furthered his legal education with a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights from the University of Hong Kong.

His legal career began as a legal practitioner spanning over 11 years before he joined the Judicial Department of Fiji in 2009 as a Resident Magistrate. Over the years, he served in various capacities, including presiding at the Ba and Lautoka Magistrate’s Courts, and later as a member of the Western Division Liquor Tribunal (2010–2011). In 2011, he was transferred to Suva as the Chief Magistrate, overseeing all magistrates in Fiji, a position he held until 2020.

In 2021, Justice Ratuvili was appointed as Master of the High Court, based in Labasa. He was later appointed as an Acting Judge of the High Court in February 2023 and confirmed as a Puisne Judge on 08 April 2024. He is currently based at Suva High Court Number 1.

With his extensive judicial background and commitment to upholding the rule of law, Justice Ratuvili’s leadership as Chairperson of the Electoral Commission will play a pivotal role in ensuring the integrity, transparency, and independence of Fiji’s electoral processes.

Member of The Electoral Commission

MS. Nalini Singh

Nalini Singh, from Fiji, is a feminist and a social development specialist with over 20 years’ experience in design, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation of women’s rights, social justice and development programmes in Asia Pacific.

Her particular interests are in the issues of women’s political and leadership participation, decent work and organisational capacity strengthening. Nalini is presently the Executive Director of the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM).

Prior to joining FWRM over six years ago, Nalini worked in regional women’s NGOs that were based in Thailand and Malaysia and with this she has had extensive experience working with many local, national, regional and international organisations and processes.

Nalini is a graduate of the University of the South Pacific.

Member of The Electoral Commission

Mr. Nemani Mati

Nemani Gabriel Mati spent 32 years in the civil service. He was a high school teacher for 9 years, a statistician in the Bureau of Statistics for 10 years, then a Parliamentary Research Officer for 4 years before finishing off the remaining 9 years as a public policy analyst in the Prime Minister’s Office. A third generation working class Catholic, Nemani holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Mathematics from USP, a Master of Commerce degree in Economics also from USP and a Master of Development Administration degree from ANU. He was born on 10/05/54 in Vatukoula and attended Vatukoula Government Primary School and Ratu Kadavulevu School. Nemani has a working background in data collection, processing, analysis, interpretation and report writing. He held various part time jobs while working on his undergraduate degree at USP. Nemani was a proof reader with Fiji Times newspaper and a research assistant in renewable energy projects with USP’s Department of Physics and Government’s Department of Energy and a Department of Information/UNFPA funded project for Village Participation in Population and Development. For a brief period during the 2000 coup de tat, Nemani was transferred to the Public Service Commission Appeals Board before returning to his normal job as Principal Administration Officer (Library, Research and Media) in the Veiuto Parliamentary Complex. Since retiring from the Civil Service in June 2012, he has worked as a: (i) data analyst in the 2012/13 Constitution Commission; (i) Local Consultant in a UNDP funded Fiji Democratic Governance Analysis and (iii) Research Officer in a Prime Minister’s Office funded Parliamentary Institutional Strengthening Project. In August 2017, Nemani worked briefly as a Research Assistant for Dr Asaeli Tuibeqa, Associate Professor in Economics, FNU, in a survey of Small Business in five municipalities in Fiji (Nausori, Nasinu, Suva, Sigatoka and Lautoka). From September 2017 to March 2021, Nemani taught Technical English at Montfort Boys Town. During this period he also worked part-time as a media analyst for an NGO-Media Monitoring Group covering the lead up to the 2018 Elections. Since April 2021, Nemani has tutored in Physics and Mathematics at a family-run Tutorial Centre, Café 6, Level 4, World Harvest Church Commercial Building, Kinoya. He is married to Mima Radiniwasa and they have three children. In his spare time, Nemani is an avid walker, road runner, swimmer, poet, scribbler and collector of rare books, vinyl records, music and movie DVDs.