'Parliament lacks democratic legitimacy'

Parliament now has a “manufactured super majority” that lacks democratic legitimacy following the defection of FijiFirst MPs, Dialogue Fiji Executive Director Nilesh Lal says.

Speaking at Thursday’s constitution review panel discussion at the Suva Civic Auditorium, Mr Lal questioned whether any constitutional reforms passed by the current Parliament could be considered legitimate.

“What we have witnessed in Fiji since last year is the wholesale defection of the MPs that belong to the former Fiji First party to the government side,” he said.

“So now we have a manufactured super majority that the government has, which it did not end at the ballot box.”

He said while the defections were permitted under Section 20 of the Political Parties Act, they were contrary to Section 63 of the Constitution.

“This has essentially eroded in a very drastic way the mandate of the voters. It has really trampled upon the wishes of the voters of FijiFirst,” Mr Lal said.

He added that critics often apply a very high threshold when assessing the legitimacy of the 2013 Constitution.

“It is only proper that if we are going to come up with a constitution that would be seen to be more legitimate than the current constitution, that it is actually passed by a parliament that is not compromised in any way,” he said.

Mr Lal said that while the current Parliament holds legal authority, it lacks democratic legitimacy.

FijiFirst was deregistered in July last year by Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa, resulting in 27 MPs either joining the coalition government or becoming independent opposition MPs.

Acting Attorney-General Siromi Turaga, who attended the forum, said a Constitution Review Commission would be established soon, with its members to be named by the Prime Minister. A Referendum Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament in December.