Senate revival, smaller Parliament among sweeping CRC reforms

Parliament could be reduced to 60 seats under a major constitutional reform proposal.

The Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) has proposed a 41-member House of Representatives and a revived 19-member Senate.

This is among the recommendations proposed by the CRC in its report handed to President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu on August 31.

The commission wants a new Mixed Member Proportional system, with 26 seats decided directly by voters in constituencies, including five reserved for Rotuma, Yasawa, Kadavu, Lomaiviti and Lau.

The remaining 15 seats would be allocated to parties based on their share of the national vote.

Cabinet would be capped at 15 members, including the Prime Minister.

The Bose Levu Vakaturaga (BLV) would nominate eight of the 19 senators, with five appointed by the Prime Minister, four by the Leader of the Opposition, one by the Rotuma Island Council and one by the Rabi Council of Leaders, representing Banaban interests.

Party lists must alternate between male and female candidates, starting with a woman, to increase women's representation in Parliament.

The commission also wants an independent Constituency Boundaries Commission to redraw electoral boundaries after every census and a merger of the Electoral Commission and the Fiji Elections Office into a single body.

A new caretaker government system is proposed for the period before elections, along with rules limiting major changes to election laws in the nine months before a Parliament's term ends.

The President would no longer be elected by Parliament. Instead, a seven-member Presidential Appointment Commission — comprising three BLV nominees, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and representatives of the Fiji Council of Churches and Interfaith Search Fiji — would choose the Head of State.

These are recommendations only. Parliament will decide whether to adopt them.