By Xinhua,
Wellington : Fiji’s interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said on Tuesday that Fiji will only hold elections when all of its political players agree on electoral reform.
Sayed-Khaiyum, as a representative of Fiji Interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, told the special Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting in Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby on Tuesday that electoral reform has to come first before PIF demands of free and fair elections, TV New Zealand reported.
Fiji’s membership of the PIF is one possible sanction up for discussion given Bainimarama’s broken promises on a timetable to restore democracy following his December 2006 coup.
The 15 PIF leaders, including New Zealand Prime Ministers John Key and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, met in Port Moresby to discuss what they see as the best measures to get Fiji back on the route to democracy.
Once an electoral system has been established through the reforms, the process for elections can be created within 12-15 months, Sayed-Khaiyum said.
“As the PM (Bainimarama) has said, the holding of elections for the sake of holding elections is not going to achieve any proper outcome nor will it achieve any long term democratic stability in Fiji,” TVNZ quoted Sayed-Khaiyum as saying.
“Once we have an agreement with all the political parties it does give us the moral and the legal ability to make the necessary amendments to that process (of elections).
“Sixty-four percent of the Fijian people have endorsed the electoral reforms suggested.”
“That’s precisely the point, the reason why we’ve had these interruptions to democratic parliamentary governance has been that the system has not been working and that is a fundamental principle people seem to neglect,” Sayed-Khaiyum said.
Sayed-Khaiyum was sent to the summit by Bainimarama who said he is needed at home to manage devastating floods which killed at least 11 people earlier this month.
On Monday, Bainimarama told his troops in Suva that despite pressure on his government, Fiji will only be returned to democratic rule once the racially divisive electoral system is changed.
Changes to Fiji’s electoral system would require constitutional amendments.
“The Electoral Act will be changed. If it takes us 5 years or 10years to hold elections then so be it. But hear me, the Constitution will be changed,” the Fiji live website quoted Bainimarama as saying.
The PIF, known until Oct. 27, 2000 as the South Pacific Forum, is a key political and economic policy organization in the Pacific. Forum leaders meet annually to develop collective responses to regional issues.
The PIF groups New Zealand, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Tonga, Samoa, Micronesia, Kiribati, Niue, Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.