Supreme Court: 1997 Constitution no longer valid
Chief Justice Salesi Temo delivered the court’s advisory opinion this afternoon.
Friday 29 August 2025 | 03:00
The Supreme Court has ruled that Fiji’s 1997 Constitution is no longer valid or applicable.
Chief Justice Salesi Temo delivered the court’s advisory opinion this afternoon, stating that the 2013 Constitution stands as the country’s legally effective governing document.
The opinion followed a week of heated hearings earlier this month, where submissions from August 18 to 21 sparked fierce debate.
Related stories
The Fiji Law Society and the Fiji Labour Party had strongly opposed the court’s involvement, arguing it had no jurisdiction to alter or relax constitutional amendment provisions.
Today’s ruling settles one of the most contentious questions in Fiji’s legal and political landscape: whether the 1997 Constitution, abrogated during the 2009 political crisis, retained any legal force.
Read more in the Fiji Sun tomorrow.
