Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Great Council of Chiefs, a powerful gathering of mainly high chiefs which, among other prerogatives, elects the President of Fiji, also endorsed the report in June. The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 1997 was passed by the House of Representatives on 3 July that year, and by the Senate on 10 July. President Mara signed it into law on 25 July ...
Section 1 states that "The Republic of the Fiji Islands is a sovereign, democratic state." This underscoring of Fiji's commitment to democracy comes against the backdrop of political instability that has sometimes plagued Fiji, resulting in two coups d'état prior to the adoption of the constitution, and a third and fourth since.
Nominal head of state Ratu Josefa Iloilo abolished the Constitution of Fiji and dismissed all Courts, after the Court of Appeal ruled that the post-coup Bainimarama government was illegal. A new Constitution was made known to the public in September 2013, and a general election was held in September 2014, won by Bainimarama's FijiFirst Party.
Fiji's first constitution, implemented in 1970 at the time of independence from the UK, contained negotiated provisions to enshrine the political supremacy of the minority indigenous population. [1] When an Indo-Fijian dominated government was elected despite these safeguards, the 1987 Fijian coups d'état took place, resulting in even tighter ...
A government (executive) must be formed that has the support of a majority in the House of Representatives. Inclusion of a particular political party in the Cabinet (executive) depends on the electoral support for that party in the most recent election. No political party, however, may be forced to participate in the Cabinet against its will.
If the government is defeated in a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives (as happened in 1994), or if the House rejects "A bill appropriating revenue or moneys for the ordinary services of the Government," the Prime Minister must advise the President on whether there is another person who can command a legislative majority, and ...
Fiji's Bill of Rights covers Sections 21 through 43 of the Constitution. Significantly, it sets out the rights of the people and the limitations on the powers of the various branches of government, before specifying the structure of the government. The idea is that the government is subject to human rights, rather than the reverse.
In the drawing up of the present constitution, many Indo-Fijians, including the Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry, pushed for a common roll and for the abolition of the communal electoral rolls, believing that it inhibited the formation of multi-racial political parties with a vision for the whole country; instead, voting typically followed ...