Youth turnout low at Constitution consultations

A Bua youth representative has expressed disappointment at the low turnout of young people at a public consultation on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2026 at Kilaka Village in Kubulau, Bua, yesterday.

Meli Tavodi said young people were barely visible at the consultation because of their low attendance.

The 29-year-old who represents youths in Wainunu district said he was excited and overwhelmed to make his first official submission on the proposed Constitution.

His concerns extended beyond yesterday’s consultation. He said he had also observed low youth participation at other venues through livestreams on the Fijian Government’s Facebook page.

“From my observation of the livestream link on the Government Facebook page, I have noticed there are only few youth members present to make submissions,” he said.

Mr Tavodi urged young people in areas scheduled to host consultations to attend and ensure their views were heard as part of the process of formulating the proposed Constitution.

“If there is a public consultation coming to your area, youths, please make yourself be heard,” he said.

Tabuya agrees youth turnout low

Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights member Lynda Tabuya shared Mr Tavodi’s concerns, saying youth participation at the consultations had been low.

“The low representation of youth in the consultations is noted. I have noticed that as a standing committee member and government minister, we haven’t seen many youths come to these consultations,” Ms Tabuya said.

However, she acknowledged the quality of submissions made by young people who had attended consultations and presented proposals for consideration in the proposed Constitution.

“For those youths that have presented their submissions, they had really strong and persuasive presentations. We saw it in Suva, Nasinu and Labasa,” she said.

Ms Tabuya suggested that youth participation at village consultations could be lower because their views were sometimes consolidated into a single submission presented by a village or district representative.

“When we went to the villages for consultation, there was less involvement of youths, but we have observed their elders or district reps have shared their views on their behalf,” she said.

Ms Tabuya also noted that no women spoke or made submissions at Kilaka Village. She suggested their views might have been collated by the chief and presented to the committee on their behalf.

She stressed that youth participation in public consultations and General Election voting was important because young people made up the largest population group.

“Youths progressively in the last three elections were the lowest turnout in terms of voting,” she said.