Leader of the National Federation Party (NFP), Professor Biman Prasad, has labelled Fiji’s 2013 Constitution a “fraudulent and discredited document” and called for the people’s right to change it through a democratic process.
Speaking at the NFP Convention at the Labasa Civic Centre on Saturday, Professor Prasad said the Constitution was imposed without consultation and deliberately designed to be unchangeable.
“But the 2013 Constitution remains, a fraudulent and discredited document,” he said.
“The people who drafted it – those who wrote it for themselves – also tried to lock it up forever, with rigid rules about how it could be amended – a three-quarters majority in Parliament and then three-quarters of all voters in a referendum.”
“Their intent was simple – the Constitution, the document they imposed on us without consultation, must never be changed.”
He said the recent constitutional case before the Supreme Court was about restoring people’s rights in a true democracy.
“In a real democracy, the people always come first. And if the people want to change their constitution, that is their right. As long as they follow fair and reasonable processes to do so, they must have that right,” Professor Prasad said.
He confirmed the NFP supported the Government’s position in the Supreme Court case, which sought to create a more realistic path for constitutional reform.
“We supported the Government in this. How could we not? What is more obvious than that our people have the democratic right to make their own decisions about their own laws?”
Professor Prasad welcomed the outcome of the case, which saw the Supreme Court reduce the threshold for constitutional change.
“The Government did not get everything it wanted because an independent judiciary decides for itself, without fear or favour,” he said.
“Our Supreme Court gave to the Government some of what it wanted, but not everything it wanted.”
“The Supreme Court reduced the Parliamentary majority required to change the Constitution to two-thirds. But it also required that any changes to the Constitution should be supported by a majority vote of the people in a referendum. NFP supported this position.”
