Why did the Govt leave the electoral reform until now, we cannot rush it – Narube

Unity Fiji Leader, Savenaca Narube says the government is running out of time in getting an electoral reform done in a timely manner and the only option is for the government to seek a clear interpretation from the Supreme Court on the 2013 Constitution regarding the electoral system.

While speaking after the Dialogue Fiji organized Multi Stakeholder Dialogue on Electoral Reform, Narube asks why the government has taken so long to deal with this critical issue.

Narube says the Constitution is so detailed about the electoral system.

He says it prevents the government from doing too much too fast.

Narube also highlights the current system is so unfair that even after he was the person with the 6th highest votes in the 2022 general elections, he is not in parliament and this means that 49 Members of Parliament have lower votes than he had.

He stresses that we need to have much better distribution of seats based on the votes that the candidates get.

Questions are also being raised on whether the Supreme Court should interpret Section 53 of the 2013 Constitution which states that the election of Members of Parliament is by a multi-member open list system of proportional representation, under which each voter has one vote, with each vote being of equal value, in a single national electoral roll comprising all the registered voters.

Narube says a single national electoral roll does not mean a single national constituency and there should be an interpretation from the Supreme Court.

Narube says the electoral system including the 5 percent threshold is in the Constitution but with the interpretation of the Supreme Court, there can be some flexibility.

He says the only other option is to change the Constitution first before changing the electoral laws.

The Dialogue Fiji panel discussion of political parties did not have the People’s Alliance Party and the National Federation Party.

Only SODELPA, Unity Fiji and the Fiji Labour Party were part of the panel.

None of the Electoral Law Reform Commissioners or those from the Government side were present in the discussion on electoral reform, and Permanent Secretary for Justice, Selina Kuruleca and the Fiji Law Reform Commission Director, Raijeli Tuivaga left the conference after their speeches.