Dialogue Fiji says Fiji’s current electoral system delivers a more accurate reflection of voters’ choices than the proposed Proportional Open List Constituency System being considered during constitutional reform.
In its technical assessment of the Fiji Electoral Law Reform Commission’s recommendations, Dialogue Fiji Executive Director Nilesh Lal argues the existing Open List Proportional Representation (OLPR) system produced an “exceptionally proportional” outcome in the 2022 General Election.
The report shows FijiFirst secured 46.05 per cent of qualifying votes and 47.27 per cent of parliamentary seats, while the People’s Alliance received 38.77 per cent of votes and 38.18 per cent of seats.
The National Federation Party obtained 9.62 per cent of votes and 9.09 per cent of seats, while SODELPA received 5.56 per cent of votes and 5.45 per cent of seats.
According to the assessment, the largest difference between vote share and seat share was only 1.22 percentage points, demonstrating that the current system translated votes into parliamentary representation with a high degree of accuracy.
By comparison, the report argues the proposed POLCS cannot guarantee proportional representation because around 70 per cent of parliamentary seats would already be allocated through constituency contests before national proportionality is calculated.
It also warns that the proposed model could increase wasted votes, make constituency boundaries politically significant again, favour geographically concentrated parties over dispersed support, and potentially require Parliament to expand if overhang seats are created.
The report concludes that while the proposal promises local MPs, greater women’s representation and simpler voting, many of those objectives conflict with one another.
Instead, it argues the existing OLPR system has one key strength—every vote cast anywhere in Fiji carries equal value in determining the composition of Parliament—and says that principle should not be abandoned without a technically sound alternative.
