GCC calls to scrap two-year election rule

The Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) is calling for the removal of the two-year residency requirement that bars some overseas-based Fijians from contesting elections.

GCC chairman Ratu Viliame Seruvakula said the council had passed a resolution urging the Government to amend the Electoral Act 2014 and remove the residency rule for those registered in the Vola ni Kawa Bula (VKB), the official register of indigenous Fijian bloodlines.

The Act currently requires candidates to have lived in Fiji for at least 18 months out of the two years before nomination.

"We want that two years removed for anyone whose name appears in the Vola ni Kawa Bula," Ratu Viliame said.

"Why should the person be banned, even if he or she has gone away and come back?"

He said the requirement was preventing capable individuals from standing for office.

"There are some good candidates but they cannot stand for the election because of that two-year caveat."

The resolution will be submitted to Government, although Ratu Viliame acknowledged the GCC could only make recommendations.

"We can only ask," he said.

The GCC also confirmed it was seeking to have its role entrenched in Fiji’s new Constitution, moving beyond its current placement under the iTaukei Affairs Act, which can be amended by a simple parliamentary majority.

"It will be entrenched in such a way where it will be a little bit more harder to remove than where it was last time," Ratu Viliame said.