While speaking during the debate on the Bill, Opposition MP Premila Kumar claimed that people will experience a referendum for the last time if that Constitution goes through.
She also says too many fundamental rules are left to regulations that have not been presented to Parliament.
Kumar says these rules will determine how campaigns operate, how money is raised and spent, what information voters receive and how results can be challenged.
She also citizens should not have to work out their referendum rights and offences from a combination of two Acts and subsequent administrative decisions.
Kumar questioned the reliance on newspapers to communicate important information, calling for wider use of SMS, social media, radio, television and the official Elections Office website.
Despite supporting the Bill, Opposition MP Jone Usamate says this Government appears to be paying lip service to participatory democracy as the Constitution being proposed does not provide for referendums and is entirely based on representative democracy.
Usamate also says the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Justice, Law and Human Rights waited five months, from April to September, for a revised draft, leaving insufficient time to incorporate relevant Electoral Act provisions directly into the Bill.
He further says campaign spending limits and guidelines ensuring equal airtime for supporters and opponents have not been adequately addressed.
Responding to Kumar’s claim about future referendums, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka stresses this will not be the only referendum we will ever have in Fiji.
He says she is correct in relation to Section 160 of the 2013 Constitution, because there will be no corresponding section 160 in the proposed new Constitution.
However, Rabuka says the Bill also allows Parliament to pass a resolution declaring that an issue or matter is of sufficient national importance to be submitted to voters for their views.
He adds future Parliaments may decide to take questions to the people.
Rabuka says the Bill affirms a democratic belief that has united free societies for generations, on questions touching the constitutional future of a nation, the people themselves must have a voice.
The Prime Minister says on other matters, the Government may still seek people’s views through a referendum, although the result would not be binding on the Government.
Minister for Information Lynda Tabuya says the Bill will strengthen the process and civil participation.
Tabuya says the Bill will provide the need for conflict resolution mechanisms instead of a really strong emphasis on creating offences and applying offences.
