Opinion: Parliament’s vote on the Constitution [Amendment] Bill 2026

The NFP and SODELPA have publicly announced that they do not, and cannot, support the People’s Alliance Government’s Constitution [Amendment] Bill 2026 in all its current provisions.

If this is so, then according to the principle of collective Cabinet responsibility, they should do the right thing and resign from Cabinet. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has enough MPs from his own Peoples Alliance Party [21] and the ten or eleven cross-party or independent MPs who have joined his government, to form the majority in Parliament and continue as the Peoples Coalition Government

Alternatively, if the NFP and SODELPA opt to remain part of the Peoples Coalition Government but choose to vote against the Government’s Constitution [Amendment] Bill 2026 during its third reading in Parliament, and contribute to its defeat, Prime Minister Rabuka will have no choice but to advise the President of the Republic of Fiji to dissolve Parliament and for the issuance of the writ for new elections.

The Constitution [Amendment] Bill 2026, like the Government’s annual Budget Bill, is a major legislation. It is about our Constitution as the supreme law of Fiji.

If the Bill is defeated in its third reading, for failing to attain the required two-thirds majority vote of all MPs present and voting, the parliamentary convention is that the Government must resign immediately, allowing fresh parliamentary elections to be held.

In the last general elections, held in December 2022, the Peoples Alliance Party polled 168,581 in popular votes. This represented 35.82 % of the total votes cast. Mr Rabuka alone won more than 79,000 votes. PAP was allocated 21 seats.

The NFP won 41,830 votes, or 8.89% of the total votes cast, and was allocated 5 seats.

SODELPA won 24,172 votes, or 5.14 % of the total votes cast. It was allocated 3 seats.

An online survey conducted by the Centre for Democracy and Dialogue reported that Mr Rabuka is the most preferred Prime Minister, and his Peoples Alliance Party is the most popular political party, among voters.

The next general elections will be held under the provisions of the 2013 Constitution and there is a high probability that this will enable the People’s Alliance Party to win enough seats to form the next Government on its own, BUT STILL NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE UP THE TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY VOTE REQUIRED FOR A PAP GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED CONSTITUTION [AMENDMENT] BILL TO PASS IN PARLIAMENT.

In this circumstance, the alternative approach available to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is to adopt a statesman-like approach and invite the parliamentary Opposition to form a Joint Government-Opposition Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution Review to

resume work on the 2013 Constitution review through a national bipartisan approach. This was the same approach that produced the 1997 Constitution by unanimous parliamentary vote.

Such a united bipartisan approach in Parliament will also help to maximise popular support for the new Constitution in the public referendum to follow.