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Regional Ministers Concerned At Fiji's Slow Progress On Elections

Thursday: March 27, 2008

(Pacific Magazine)

Pacific Island Forum foreign ministers meeting in New Zealand have expressed concern about Fiji's "slow progress" towards holding a parliamentary election in the first quarter of next year.

And they have "expressed their concern about human rights abuses, threats to media freedom and judicial independence, and similar actions that were inconsistent with the creation of an environment in which free and fair elections could be held and Fiji’s longer-term issues resolved." 

The foreign ministers have reinforced how important it is that Fiji's interim government honor the promise made by Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama at last year's Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tonga- to hold elections by March 2009 in accordance with Fiji's Constitution.

They have emphasized the importance of a proposed election timetable -which is due to go before Fiji's interim Cabinet next month- reflecting the commitments already made to Forum leaders.

And they urge the Fiji Interim Government ensuring that the People’s Charter process doesn't delay or distract from the holding of an election in the first quarter of 2009; 

They will form a Ministerial Contact Group to further monitor the progress of Fiji’s preparations for the election and the return to democracy, made up of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. This group will work parallel to the existing Forum-Fiji working group.

Hon Sonatane Tu'akinamolahi Taumoepeau-Tupou, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Tonga, chaired this week's meeting which was attended by the Premier of Niue; the Prime Minister of Samoa; Ministers from Australia, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu; and officials from the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Fiji’s delegation was led by the Interim Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Civil Aviation.