All eyes are on FijiFirst as the party faces certain deregistration by the end of today.
The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) had ordered the party to amend its constitution by today because it did not have any grievance procedure for disputes for its MPs, which the FEO stated was in breach of the Political Parties Act 2013.
Under the FijiFirst constitution, the founding members automatically become members of the leadership committee and had the exclusive right to vote for and appoint to or remove persons from the central executive committee.
The leadership committee also has the power to amend the party constitution.
However, the recent resignation of founding members — which included former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum — left a vacuum in the party as neither the MPs nor the party supporters had the power to amend the party constitution.
The Registrar of Political Parties, Ana Mataiciwa, wrote to the party last month after receiving a letter of complaint from one of its MPs Mosese Bulitavu.
“FijiFirst is hereby given until 4pm on Friday, June 28, 2024, to amend its constitution to include provisions relating to the items identified in three above. Failure to comply with this notice will result in your political party being deregistered as per section 12(4) of the Act,” Ms Mataiciwa penned in the letter.
Under the Political Parties Act 2013, MPs whose parties have been deregistered may continue the remainder of their term in Parliament, either as independent MPs or as members of another valid political party.
