Pacific Magazine > Magazine > April 1, 2001

Politics

Fiji Court: Interim Government

Future Remains Unclear in The Wake of Ruling

By Robert Keith-Reid

Fiji's ruling administration began rearguard action to delay its removal after the Fiji Court of Appeal on March 1 ruled that it was illegal and should be replaced by a constitutionally elected government. In television broadcasts a few hours after the court's ruling, the acting president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo and interim prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, said decisions on how to restore democracy would be taken after the issue had been discussed by the Great Council of Chiefs in the second week of March.

A week before the ruling, a scheduled five-day hearing ended abruptly with what legal commentators said was effectively the collapse of the government case when a government lawyer said the regime would accept a ruling that went against it and use its "best endeavors" to swiftly restore a democratic government.

PM:Laisenia Qarase.

But in the TV broadcast Qarase inferred that despite its illegality his Cabinet would take its time about complying with the ruling. This tactic would allow half a dozen Fijian political parties time to mend differences, which in a May1999 election enabled the heavily Indian-dominated Fiji Labor Party to sweep to power and form a government with Mahendra Chaudhry as the country's first Indian prime minister.

Speculation in the immediate wake of the decision against the interim administration was that an election would be held towards the end of this year since given its illegality the administration is unable to stall its departure indefinitely.

Supporters of the Peoples' Coalition Government, a coalition formed by the Labor Party with several small Fijian parties, advocated the formation of a government of national unity, representative of all shades of opinion and tasked to reshape the constitution so as to quell Fijian fears about the preservation of their land and customary rights. But Fiji Labor Party sources told Pacific Magazine that Chaudhry was unlikely to be a feature of the next government.

Farmer:Chandrika Prasad.

In what lawyers said was an internationally important ruling, the court dismissed the interim administration's claim that the Army had legitimately abrogated the constitution on May 29, 2000, 10 days after George Speight and his men had taken Chaudhry, then prime minister, and most of his government hostage in Parliament. The court rejected the interim administration's claim that since being installed last July as an interim government supported by the Army and Council of Chiefs it had become Fiji's effective and widely popularly supported government.

The administration contended it should thus be allowed to complete its declared path of amending the constitution to guarantee political supremacy for indigenous Fijians, who are 51 percent of the 840,000 population, over non-indigenous, mainly Indian citizens; and hold a democratic elections in March 2002.

Qarase's government, which the appeal court agreed had won effective control of the country if not genuine public support, appealed against a November High Court ruling by Judge Anthony Gates. In response to a petition from an Indian farmer, Chandrika Prasad, Gates said the constitution claimed by the Army to have been abrogated remained in place and that the president's duty was to appoint from the 1999 elected parliamentarians a Prime Minister capable of forming a new government.