Fiji’s Constitution Review Commission has recommended replacing the country’s single-chamber parliament and its voting system, recognising the Great Council of Chiefs in the constitution, confining the military to external defence and removing the immunity that shields everyone involved in Fiji’s past coups — including the sitting prime minister. The commission’s report, which contains a draft constitution, was tabled at a special sitting of parliament in Suva on Tuesday, according to the ABC and Asia Pacific Report.
The package arrives months before a general election due in February, and neither the commission nor the government has settled the central question hanging over it: whether Fijians vote under the old rules or the new ones.
Key facts
- The commission proposes a 60-member bicameral legislature — a 41-member House of Representatives and a 19-member Senate — replacing the current 55-seat single chamber.
- It recommends a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system. The ABC reports voters would elect 26 members from constituencies under first-past-the-post and 15 from party lists.
- The single national constituency, under which all 55 current MPs are elected from one open list, would be abolished and an independent Constituency Boundaries Commission created, according to the ABC.
- The Great Council of Chiefs would get its own chapter in the constitution, nominate eight of the 19 senators and hold three of seven seats on a new commission to appoint the president, the ABC reports.
- The military’s role would be rewritten to confine it to external defence, with domestic deployment only when authorised by parliament.
- The commission wants the immunity covering the coups of 1987, 2000 and 2006 repealed and future immunity prohibited — a move the Republic of Fiji Military Forces supports, according to the ABC.
- Rotuma would receive its own constitutional chapter and a path to self-determination.
Why it matters
Fiji is due to head to the polls in February. The ABC reports it is unclear whether the proposed changes will be introduced before the general vote, or whether they would delay it. Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica would not guarantee that the timetable would not push back the election, telling the ABC it was “probably premature” to discuss that, while saying Fijians would vote on a constitution for the first time.
The named critic on the record is Professor Jon Fraenkel, a comparative politics specialist at Victoria University of Wellington. He told the ABC that passing constitutional change before an election could deny a voice to many Fijians, and that there would be a major problem of inclusiveness in the idea of a constitutional transition carried out by the current parliament. He also warned the government could draw fierce backlash if it pushed the three readings through while the opposition was in disarray — Fiji First, the primary opposition party, was liquidated in the years after the 2022 election, leaving its voters effectively without representation, the broadcaster reports.
The government’s answer is that the mandate was never hidden. Attorney-General Siromi Turaga told the ABC the process was not rushed, that MPs are the elected representatives of the people, and that the government’s intention to bring a new constitution was known from the beginning.
A different parliament and a new voting system
Asia Pacific Report describes the MMP model as a hybrid of constituency-based, or first-past-the-post, seats and proportional party-list seats, designed to deliver both local accountability and national proportionality. In practice that means a voter would be represented by a specific local member — someone with a defined patch of the country to answer to — while the party-list seats top up each party’s total so that its share of the House broadly matches its share of the national vote.
On the ABC’s description of both systems, that would be a departure from how Fijians vote today: the whole country is currently one constituency and all 55 MPs are elected from a single open list, so no member is tied to a particular district and candidates compete nationally for individual votes. The commission’s package would split the 41-seat House into 26 local seats and 15 list seats, and create an independent Constituency Boundaries Commission to draw the new electorate map.
Coup immunity and the prime minister
The recommendation to remove coup immunity would reverse what the ABC describes as the “absolute and irrevocable immunity” granted to anyone involved in Fiji’s three coups. That includes Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who was behind the 1987 coup.
Professor Fraenkel told the ABC the step was significant precisely because it implicates the sitting prime minister: “It’s more difficult to remove protections on past coup makers, which includes the prime minister himself.” Rabuka has previously said the immunity clause did not protect him and that he was “free”, the broadcaster reports.
The commission did not stop at the immunity clauses. The ABC reports it also recommended amending the constitutional provisions that preserve laws and decrees made under previous military rule, and wants both those provisions and the immunity clauses repealed, with any future immunity provisions prohibited outright.
Chiefs and the military
The Great Council of Chiefs — the traditional chiefly body abolished under the Bainimarama government and revived in 2023 — would be recognised in its own chapter of the constitution, according to the ABC. Beyond recognition, the commission would give it concrete power: eight of the 19 Senate nominations and three of the seven seats on a new commission to appoint the president.
The military’s constitutional role would be narrowed in the opposite direction. The commission recommends confining the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to external defence, with deployment inside the country only where parliament has authorised it. The ABC reports the RFMF supports the removal of coup immunity.
What happens next
Lands Minister Filimoni Vosarogo said the constitutional amendment bill would be presented to the floor of parliament for three readings, the ABC reports. A parliamentary committee would then have at least 30 days to consult before a final vote in the November sitting, and the government needs 37 votes in the 55-member parliament to cement the changes. If the bill passes it goes to the president and then to the electoral commission for a referendum, according to the ABC. Separate legislation to run a referendum is before a committee and due back in parliament next week.
MPs will work to that timetable from a document they received only as the sitting opened: the ABC reports they were handed a USB stick containing the more than 200-page report, which Asia Pacific Report puts at 236 pages.
Background
Fiji’s current constitution came into force under the military government of Frank Bainimarama, who seized power in the 2006 coup. The ABC reports the country’s supreme court last year found the document carried a “democratic deficit” because it was never put to the people, opening the door to the review.
The Constitution Review Commission was set up in March and delivered its report to the president on August 30 after nationwide consultations on the 2013 Constitution, Asia Pacific Report says. The cabinet endorsed the report last week, and the government has hinted at a new constitution in place by Christmas Eve. Fiji has had four constitutions since independence from Britain in 1970.
What is still unclear
Four questions are unresolved on the reporting available. Whether the February election runs under the current constitution or a new one has not been settled, with Kamikamica calling the discussion premature. Whether the government can find 37 votes in a parliament without a functioning opposition has not been tested. Tabling is not adoption: the cabinet’s position, per Asia Pacific Report, is that presenting the report to parliament does not mean it has accepted or adopted all of the commission’s recommendations. And neither account of Tuesday’s sitting reports any business, investor or tourism-sector reaction, so the economic cost of going into an election season with the constitutional rules unsettled is not yet on the record. This article will be updated as those positions are stated publicly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What parliament does the Constitution Review Commission propose for Fiji?
A 60-member, two-chamber parliament: a 41-member House of Representatives and a 19-member Senate, replacing the single 55-seat chamber Fiji has now. The Great Council of Chiefs would nominate eight of the 19 senators, according to the ABC and Asia Pacific Report.
What is Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) and how would it change voting in Fiji?
MMP splits a parliament between members elected in local seats and members elected from party lists, so that a party’s share of seats tracks its share of the national vote while voters still get a local representative. Under the commission’s model, 26 members of the House would be elected from constituencies on a first-past-the-post basis and 15 from party lists, the ABC reports. The ABC describes the current system as one in which all 55 MPs are elected from a single national constituency on one open list.
Does tabling the report mean the government has accepted the recommendations?
No. The cabinet maintains that tabling the commission’s report in parliament does not mean the government has accepted or adopted all of its recommendations, even though it endorsed the report last week, according to Asia Pacific Report.
What does the commission propose for laws made under military rule?
It wants them reopened. The commission recommended amending the constitutional provisions that preserve laws and decrees made under previous military rule, repealing both those provisions and the immunity clauses, and prohibiting any future immunity provisions, the ABC reports.
What does the report recommend for Rotuma?
Its own chapter in the constitution and a constitutional path to self-determination for the self-governing island, which lies about 465 kilometres north of Fiji’s main island, the ABC reports. Victoria University of Wellington comparative politics professor Jon Fraenkel questioned that, telling the broadcaster there was no great demand for it and that the island is very small, with most Rotumans living on Viti Levu.
Is there an opposition party to contest the changes in parliament?
Not in any organised form. Fiji’s primary opposition party, Fiji First, was liquidated in the years after the 2022 election, leaving the people who voted for it effectively without representation, according to the ABC; Professor Fraenkel told the broadcaster the government could draw fierce backlash if it pushed the readings through while the opposition was in disarray.
How many votes does the government need to change the constitution?
Thirty-seven of the 55 seats in the current parliament. Lands Minister Filimoni Vosarogo said the amendment bill would go through three readings, with a parliamentary committee given at least 30 days to consult before a final vote in the November sitting, the ABC reports; if it passes it goes to the president and then to the electoral commission for a referendum.
