Fiji is a nation made up of over 300 islands found in the South Pacific in the Melanesia subregion of Oceania, other nearby island nations and overseas territories include New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, the Samoas and Tonga among others. The country’s capital city Suva is found on the coast of the nation’s largest island, Viti Levu.
Humans have lived on the islands that are now Fiji since at least the 2nd Millenium BC with the first known peoples being the Austronesians and then later Melanesians with these peoples also influenced by Polynesians. By the 19th Century a native ruler called Seru Epenisa Cakobau consolidated control of the islands and created a short-lived independent monarchy, this same King later voluntarily ceded the islands to the British Empire and it became a Crown Colony called the Colony of Fiji in 1874.
From 1970 the colony was given independence within the Commonwealth Realm meaning it conducted its own government affairs but the British Monarch was still the ceremonial Head of State represented by an appointed Governor-General and Fiji became the Dominion of Fiji. A series of coups then took place in Fiji in 1987 overthrowing a number of leaders until eventually a military government took power and declared the islands a Republic meaning they were no longer apart of the Commonwealth Realm and the British Monarch was no longer Head of State.
Another coup in 2006 put Frank Baninimarama as Prime Minister and saw the continuation of military government until it was ruled unlawful in 2009 leading to the President Ratu Josefa Iloilo who had been kept in power by the military, to abrogate the 1997 constitution and then later be succeeded by a new President the same year. It wasn’t until years later in 2014 due to a number of delays and after the country adopted a new constitution in the previous year where democratic elections were finally held with Frank Baninimarama managing to win the election and remaining Prime Minister so far to this day.
The country’s official languages are Fijian, English and Fiji Hindi and another recognised language is Rotuman which is an Austronesian language. The largest religion is Christianity with the largest denomination being Methodist but there is also a significant minority of Hindu’s. The country’s currency is the Fijian dollar and the country’s population is closing in on 900,000.
Government Type
The nation is a parliamentary representative democratic republic with a President who is Head of State but mostly ceremonial with limited powers and a Prime Minister who is Head of Government. There is also a unicameral parliament that runs the legislative government. Multiple parties are allowed.
The Executive Government
As mentioned, the President is Head of State, which is mostly a ceremonial role with limited powers. The President though does have some powers, most of which are only actionable on advice of the Prime Minister or designated Minister or member of Cabinet.
Presidential Absence or Vacancy
If the President becomes absent for any reason or if the seat of President becomes vacant then the country’s Chief Justice will become the acting or interim President for such period of time until either the President returns or a new President is appointed by Parliament.
Duties
The President on advice of the Prime Minister can proclaim Parliament prorogued which discontinues the session of parliament without actually fully dissolving the parliament, it just prevents it from functioning for the time period, mostly the power is simply just used to end a session of parliament early or before the parliament is dissolved for election, but other times it can be used in an attempt to resolve stalemate.
On advice of the Prime Minister the President can also dissolve parliament early for fresh elections, but this can only happen after a lapse of 3 years and 6 months since the date of its first meeting after a general election. Parliament can also be dissolved early by consent of two-thirds of parliament, such a motion can be moved by government if it lacks confidence in parliament or by the Leader of the Opposition or if parliament has first rejection of motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
A motion to dissolve early cannot be moved 18 months immediately following the start of the parliamentary term or 6 months before its end.
The President dissolves parliament if the motion is passed and summons parliament after a general election. Sessions of Parliament are summoned by the President on advice of the Prime Minister or by the petition of one-third of parliamentary members related to an urgent public matter, outside of that normal sessions are determined by parliaments own internal rules agreed upon by members.
The President shall also summon parliament if 2 months has elapsed since the previous sitting. Finally, the President will open parliament annually with an address that outlines policies and programmes of the Government.
There are ceremonial functions and responsibilities for the President as Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces.
The President helps to guarantor independence of the judiciary, including appointing the Chief Justice who is the President of the Supreme Court on advice of the Prime Minister who has consulted with the main Opposition Leader. Supreme Court Judges, President of the Court of Appeal, justices of the Court of Appeal, and High Court judges appointed by the President on recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission after consultation with the competent cabinet Minister and parliamentary committee.
Members of the Judicial Service Commission are the Chief Justice as its chairperson; the President of the Court of Appeal; the Permanent Secretary responsible for justice; a legal practitioner appointed by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice and Attorney-General; and a person who is not a legal practitioner appointed by the President on advice of the Chief Justice following the Chief Justice’s consultation with the Attorney-General.
Director of Public Prosecutions is appointed by the President on recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission after consultation with the Attorney-General.
The President is also responsible for appointing a number of other independent commissions and public offices such as but not limited to rights of citizens, appointment of public offices, appointment and discipline or organization of authorities and military positions/posts through various structured processes similar to the above.
Another I shall give clear presentation to is the Constitutional Offices Commission which includes the Prime Minister as chairperson; the main Leader of the Opposition; the Attorney-General; two people appointed by the President on advice of the Prime Minister and another person appointed by the President on advice of the main Opposition Leader.
There are also various processes for removal of members from the above commissions and public offices and from judicial positions that usually involve the President’s intervention and the setting up of a tribunal or board to make the decisions.
Note that the above is true in many, many government systems I have done previously just that I have often not gone this much into detail on it.
Removal from Office
The President can be removed from office due to inability to perform functions or down to misbehavior. If the Prime Minister considers the question to remove the President important then the Prime Minister will ask the Chief Justice to set up a tribunal or board to that effect. If it is to do with misbehavior then the Chief Justice will be asked to set up a tribunal to investigate that consists of a chairperson and two people who are eligible to be a judge.
If it is down to inability to perform functions then the Prime Minister will ask the Chief Justice to set up a medical board to investigate including a Chairperson and two people qualified to be a health practitioner.
The Medical Board or tribunal is appointed through the Judicial Service Commision.
The President is also notified of such requests, from this point the President is barred from performing functions up until a final decision is made in which either the President is removed from office or if they are retained and therefore powers are restored.
The tribunal or medical board shall come up with a written report on its investigation and its recommendation on whether the President should be removed from office, this report is received by the Chief Justice who hands it to the Prime Minister who shall then table it to Parliament who will vote on whether to remove the President or not.
Government, Prime Minister and Cabinet
The Prime Minister is Head of Government and chairperson of the Cabinet. The Cabinet shall have as many Ministers as is determined by the Prime Minister. The Government, Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively responsible to Parliament and must keep their confidence to remain in power. The Prime Minister keeps the President generally informed about issues relating to governance of Fiji.
The Prime Minister appoints and dismisses Ministers. The Prime Minister can assign themselves or a Minister responsibility for a specified part of the business of government, such as general direction or control over a branch or branches of the public service or over a disciplined force and responsibility for implementation and administration of each Act, a notice of this action will be published in the Gazette.
Ministers and the Prime Minister must be a member of parliament.
The Prime Minister can appoint any Minister as Acting Prime Minister for a period or periods when the Prime Minister is absent from Fiji or for any reason is unable to perform duties, this again must be published in the Gazette. The same can also be done for Minister positions with the Prime Minister appointing another Minister as an Acting Minister for a Minister who is absent.
Ministers can be called before parliament or parliamentary committees to answer questions on matters under their competence, they must attend such calls to parliament or a parliamentary committee. It is also the duty of Cabinet members to provide regular reports of their activities to parliament.
The Prime Minister also appoints the Attorney-General to Cabinet, who is the Governments principal legal advisor, the person appointed must be a legal practitioner in Fiji with no less than 15-years post-admission practice either in Fiji or abroad. They also cannot have been found guilty of any wrongdoing as a legal practitioner either in Fiji or abroad. The position can either be appointed from a member of parliament or someone outside of parliament.
It is as always, the job of Cabinet to organize governing policy and enact legislation passed by parliament through the relevant ministries that are under the competence of said Ministers. Cabinet and the Prime Minister also conduct foreign affairs. Cabinet can also draw up legislation and present it to parliament.
Motion of No-Confidence
A motion of no confidence can remove the Prime Minister collectively with the entire Cabinet from power, it requires the support of a majority of parliament and must propose a Prime Minister to succeed the previous if successful, the proposed person automatically becomes Prime Minister. If it fails it cannot be introduced again for another 6-months.
State of Emergency
Like many systems, the constitution provides for emergency provisions to deal with serious and unprecedented crises that may involve the temporary suspension or reduction of certain rights of citizens and certain processes to help more effectively bring the crisis under control.
The Prime Minister, on recommendation from the Commissioner of Police and the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces can declare a state of emergency in some or all of Fiji. Parliament must give consent for a State of Emergency which if they do will be in effect for 1 month which then requires consent by parliament to extend for one month at a time.
The Legislative Government
Duties
There is an elected unicameral parliament that makes up the legislative government and of which its main job is to have legislation introduced to it and to debate on it, amend and/or pass or reject such legislation, passed legislation goes on to the President of the country to be signed into law.
Both members of parliament and government can introduce bills to the Parliament of Fiji but only the minister responsible for finance or another minister designated by the by the Cabinet may introduce money bills, money bills include any bill to do with taxes, public funds, public money, loans, or the receipt, custody, audit, investment or issue of money or deals with anything incidental to those matters.
The President has passed bills presented to them by the Speaker of the Parliament and the President will have 7-days to give assent to the legislation, if the President takes no action within the time period then the legislation will automatically go into law.
All international treaties and conventions must be consented to by the parliament before having any effect.
Composition of Parliament and Rules
Parliament currently has a set 51 members but this can change based on population ratio to parliament ratio (with the ratio calculated using the first sitting of parliament to population ratio), this job is performed by the Electoral Commission, members of the Electoral Commission are appointed by the President on advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission, those who cannot be appointed are members of parliament, parliamentary candidates, public office holders excluding Judges, or members of a local authority.
Supervisor of Elections is also appointed by the President on advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission who have consulted with the Electoral Commision. This office is directed by the Electoral Commision and its purpose is to administer registration of voters and organise elections.
At the start of term members will elect a Speaker who is not a member of the parliament and will then elect a Deputy Speaker who is a member of parliament but not a minister. It is the job of the Speaker to conduct and execute parliamentary agenda, confer with the executive as voice of the parliament, regulate an orderly parliamentary debate and enforce parliamentary bylaws and standing orders.
A vote of two-thirds of parliament can remove the Speaker or Deputy Speaker.
A Secretary-General to parliament is appointed by the President on advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission. The position is responsible to the Speaker and advises the Speaker and members of parliament and can appoint, remove and discipline all parliamentary staff.
Parliament must establish committees under its rules and orders for the purposes of scrutinizing the government’s administration and to examine bills and such other legislation and functions as are specified in the rules and orders of parliament. Committees and also parliament have the power to summon people by the force of law for evidence and providing of information.
Parliament members may make standing orders, which are rules that govern parliaments internal functioning such as committees and how the powers, privileges and immunities of parliament are upheld. Note that pretty much every parliament does this in the world, just most the time I haven’t mentioned it, not each parliament refers to it as “standing orders” though, which its origin is from the British parliament and as such “standing orders” is used by many parliaments of nations that were once under British rule or apart of the Commonwealth.
The Electoral System
The appointment of President happens every 3-years and is done via parliament. Both the Prime Minister and main Opposition Leader can either nominate candidates of their own or agree upon a single nomination, if the nomination is agreed upon then the Speaker will declare the nominee President without a vote of parliament, if the nominations a separate then a vote of parliament happens and the President is elected by a simple majority, if both get the same number of votes then the voting will be held again for up to 3 rounds, if on the 3rd round both nominees still get the same number of votes then the Prime Minister’s chosen nominee wins and becomes President by default.
The President can only be re-appointed for one more term before stepping aside.
Those eligible for nomination as President must have had a distinguished career in any aspect of national or international life either in the public or private sector, must hold only Fijian citizenship, must not be a member or hold any office in a political party, not be a candidate for election to any other state office and not have been convicted of any offense in the previous 6-years.
Parliamentary elections happen every 4-years and all members are elected from a single nationwide multi-seat constituency using a proportional representation system where parties or independent candidates who reach 5% or more of the vote are guaranteed seats, seats achieved by parties are relative as close as possible to the total percentage of votes they achieved.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President from the largest party/coalition while the official Opposition Leader is elected by the members of Parliament after the parliamentary elections.
If no party has more than 50% of seats then the parliament will nominate a Prime Minister, if only one is nominated they shall be automatically become Prime Minister appointed by the President, if though more than one nominee is chosen then parliament must elect one by absolute majority vote, if within three rounds a nominee still has not elected a Prime Minister then fresh elections are called by the President, if a nominee does get an absolute majority they are appointed Prime Minister by the President.
The same process will take place above if the Prime Minister position becomes vacant.
To be candidate for parliament one must be a citizen of Fiji and not be holding any other citizenship, be a registered voter, be a resident in Fiji for at least 2-years before nomination, does not have an undischarged bankruptcy, to not be a member of the Electoral Commission and to not have been a member on it for 4-years leading up to being nominated, not subject to a sentence of imprisonment, for the previous 8-years to not have been convicted of an offense that has given at least 12-months or more prison sentence, and not found guilty of any electoral offense.
Candidates must leave any public office they may be holding.
To vote one must be a Fijian citizen and be at least 18-years-old. Those serving a sentence in prison longer than 12 months imposed by the nation or by another country, those declared of unsound mind or those disqualified for committing electoral offenses may not be able to vote.
Sources
The Sources for this post come from Fiji’s Constitution of 2013 (Constituteproject.org) and of which should be as accurate as possible but of course there is always the chance I have misinterpreted something or missed out something important and of course the constitution can be amended and so eventually this post may become outdated and as such it is recommended for those using this seriously to also do cross-research.
A bill to amend the constitution is introduced to parliament and is read three times, on the second and third readings it requires the support of at least three-quarters of parliaments members, if passed by parliament then a referendum will be organised to adopt the amendment and requires the support of at least three-quarters of registered voters and then after that the President gives assent to the amendment.
Next up will be the government system of Finland!
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