Fiji’s Constitution Review
Commission wants a new governance systej for the country and
the coup immunity provisions of the 2013 Constitution
repealed.
Its also recommending giving the Great
Council of Chiefs constitutional recognition, scrapping the
current electoral system, replacing the current
parliamentary system, and pushing the military to focus on
external defence.
These are among the recommendations
contained in a review report which was tabled in the Fijian
parliament and made public on Tuesday.
The
Constitution Review Commission’s 236-page report, which
includes a new draft constitution, was endorsed by Prime
Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s cabinet last week.
The
report rolls back many of the defining features of the
Fiji’s 2013 Constitution. Since gaining independence, Fiji
has had four constitutions.
The cabinet maintains that
tabling the Commission’s report in parliament does not mean
government had accepted or adopted all of its mission’s
recommendations.
However, the Fiji government has
already hinted the country could have a new constitution in
place by Christmas Eve.
The Constitution Review
Commission was set up in March and, after conducting
nationwide consultations on Fiji’s 2013 Constitution, it
delivered its report to the president on 30
August.
Among the most notable features in the report,
the Commission is recommending the removal of broad immunity
protecting people involved in past coups.
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The report
also sets out the Commission’s recommendation of a new
constitution and sweeping changes designed to overhaul
Fiji’s governance.
Different political
system
It has recommended replacing the country’s
current single-chamber 55-seat Parliament with a two-house
legislature.
The proposal would see the creation of a
60-member bicameral legislature made up of a 41-member House
of Representatives and a 19-member Senate.
The
Commission recommends a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)
electoral system.
This would be a hybrid model
featuring constituency-based, or first-past-the-post, along
with proportional party-list seats, enabling both local
accountability and national proportionality.
The
Commission also recommends establishing an independent
Constituency Boundaries Commission and abolishing the single
national
constituency.
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