PM: People will decide future

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has declared Fijians will decide the future of the 2013 Constitution through a nationwide consultation.

"Because it will be their Constitua­tion," Mr Rabuka said after Cabi­net met yesterday to discuss the Supreme Court's opinion on the amendment process.

He stressed that any change would not be a political party decision, but one driven by the will of the people.

"It will have to be the vote of the people's view, and we will propose them. We propose this, and then that is where the discussion will take off from," he said.

The Supreme Court last week ruled that section 160 of the 2013 Constitution created a "democratic deficit" by requiring three-quarters of parliamentary votes and regis­tered voters for any amendment.

The court lowered the threshold to two-thirds of MPs and a simple ma­jority of registered voters.

Mr Rabuka said the Cabinet had now mapped out the steps for re­form, which included an amend­ment Bill, public consultations and eventually a referendum.

"The second and third reading will involve discussions and debate. For the third reading, when those are passed by the new majority given down by the Supreme Court, then we go to the referendum and advertise it widely so that we get a good number of registered voters to come and vote," he said.

He said the process could also in­volve a Constitution Review Com­mission or a joint parliamentary group of Government and Opposi­tion members.

A Cabinet subcommittee is expect­ed to meet later this week to work on the amendment Bill, which will include input from the four parties in Government before it is tabled in Parliament.

Amending the Constitution was one of the 100-day promises of the People's Alliance, although Mr Rabuka admitted the route through Parliament alone had been too dif­ficult.

"The only practical way was to take it through Parliament, which was also a very difficult route to take," he said.

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