By Ryan L. Maness
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania
SUVA, Fiji — Constitutional scholar, Brij Lal, has said that Fiji’s lack of a vice president has created problems that need to be addressed. Fiji has been without a vice president since the military coup in 2006. The trouble, according to Lal, arises because, under the Constitution, the role of appointing a vice president rests with the Great Council of Chiefs, but interim PM Frank Bainimarama suspended the GCC last year.
Without a vice president, if something should happen to the current president Ratu Josefa Iloilo, then a presidential power vacuum would ensue. In such a situation, says Lal, Bainimarama would declare a state of emergency and assume the powers of the presidency. “He has done it before. Soon after the December 2006 coup, he simply asked the President aside and he assumed his powers,” he said. “Given the power he has –he is the most powerful man in modern Fijian history: commander of the military forces, head of government, minister for Fijian Affairs and a host of other ministries including the Public Service—he can do anything he wants.”
Earlier this week interim PM Bainimarama addressed the question of the fate of presidential appointment. While speaking with a group of villagers, Bainimarama indicated that the electoral system might be amended to allow the people to vote for the president and vice president, rather than have then appointed by the GCC.
For more information, please see:
Fijiive — Bainimarama may be President, again — 26 May 2008
Radio New Zealand International — Fiji presidency needs attention, says academic — 26 May 2008
Radio New Zealand International — Fiji interim PM says electoral system to by-pass GCC role — 23 May 2008
SUVA, Fiji — The interim administration has warned that democratic elections will not be held in 2009, as it has promised the international community, if local politicians do not support the People’s Charter. Interim PM Bainimarama said that he wants the charter to be in place no later than March of 2009. Reiterating a point he has made before, he declared at a church opening this week that, “We can’t have elections without the charter.” He also said that the military would ensure that whoever wins the eventual election will uphold the charter’s ideals, including ending racist policies and thwarting corruption.
Bainimarama has tirelessly extolled the charter, despite mounting resistance. Radio New Zealand International reports that he said that the military would like to see unanimous support for the charter, but that if the people did not support the military and the interim administration then there would be no election.
Ousted opposition leader, Mick Beddoes, said that he has become used to these kinds of statements from Bainimarama. However, he said that he expects that the interim PM’s mind will change many more times before the election deadline, but that it is unfortunate that he resorted to threatening people.
For more information, please see:
The Press Association — Fiji leader gives democracy warning — 23 May 2008
Pacific Magazine — No Election Without Charter Says Bainimarama — 23 May 2008
Radio New Zealand International — Former Fiji Opposition leader not surprised by latest threats over elections from military leader — 23 May 2008
Radio New Zealand International — Fiji Interim PM says next year’s election dependent on passage of People’s Charter — 22 May 2008
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The New Zealand Law Society has issued a statement this week that they fear that the rule of law is being eroded in Fiji. The Law Society indicated that they had been concerned since the suspension of Chief Justice Fatiaki last January 2007, since then, they say, other acts have further indicated the interim government’s disregard for the rule of law.
Specifically, the Law Society is concerned about the recent deportation of Fiji Times publisher Evan Hannah. According to Law Society president John Marshall, “What made Mr Hannah’s deportation of even more concern was that it was made in defiance of a court order staying his deportation and requiring him to be brought before the court.”
Marshall also expressed his concern about comments by interim Attorney General and Minister of Justice Aryaz Sayed-Khaiyum who said that Fijian judges are entering the political arena and are prejudging cases before they are officially tried. “The constitutional role of the Attorney General is to defend judges from public attack, not to criticise them publicly,” said Marshall.
For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International — Law Society fears for rule of law in Fiji — 23 May 2008
TV3 — Law Society voices concern about Fiji government — 21 May 2008
