By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s interim prime minister says he will try to avoid suspension from the Commonwealth after it threatened to remove Fiji from the group if the interim government did not take steps to hold democratic elections.

The Commonwealth threatened to suspend Fiji from the group after the country’s interim PM, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, refused to restore democracy by May 2009 as originally promised. The Commonwealth has given Bainimarama until September 1st to hold elections.

In response, Bainimarama says he wrote a letter to the Commonwealth, in which he expressed his desire to hold elections sooner. He also insists that representatives from the Commonwealth visit Fiji to get a “better picture” of the political situation.

Meanwhile, Sir Paul Reeves, a co-architect of Fiji’s abrogated 1997 Constitution, was supposed to have hosted a Commonwealth team earlier this month, but that time proved inconvenient for the interim government.

The interim government proposed an alternative date of August 29th, but the Commonwealth declined because of its proximity to the September 1st ultimatum.

Bainimarama has yet to set a date for the review.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Broadcast Limited – Fiji’s Presidency and parliamentary systems to be reviewed – 23 August 2009

Radio Australia News – Fiji’s interim PM aims to avert suspension from Commonwealth – 22 August 2009

China View –  Fiji awaits Commonwealth word on suspension – 21 August 2009