The Centre for Democracy & Dialogue (CDD) has warned that the proposed 2026 Constitution risks becoming another government Constitution rather than a people’s Constitution, with excessive executive powers remaining largely intact.
In its submission to the Parliamentary Special Committee examining Bill No. 32 of 2026, CDD argued that the Government’s draft reproduces the central structural weakness of the 2013 Constitution and, in some areas, makes it worse.
The organisation said its assessment was based on the constitutional provisions and the distribution of legal powers, rather than the motives of any political leader or party.
CDD maintained that the 2013 Constitution provided citizens with democratic rights and institutions but simultaneously allowed the Executive to exercise substantial influence over bodies established to hold the Government accountable.
It warned that the Government’s proposed Constitution largely retained this arrangement.
According to CDD, the draft risks creating a constitutional system in which citizens elect their government but lack sufficiently strong institutional safeguards against the abuse or concentration of State power.
The organisation said a genuinely democratic Constitution should distribute authority among independent institutions and prevent governments from controlling the bodies responsible for scrutinising their actions.
It also called for stronger mechanisms to protect constitutional rights, provide effective remedies against unconstitutional conduct and preserve electoral accountability.
“Fiji should not replace one Constitution simply to reproduce the principal structural defect of the Constitution being replaced,” CDD stated.
The organisation maintained that constitutional reform must go beyond changing institutional names and provisions without addressing where political power ultimately rests.
CDD has called on the Parliamentary Special Committee to recommend substantial revisions to the Constitution Amendment Bill before it proceeds further.
These include a complete technical redrafting and reconciliation exercise to address inconsistencies and strengthen institutional safeguards.
The organisation has also submitted a detailed provision-by-provision amendment schedule identifying sections it believes should be retained, removed, rewritten or supplemented.
CDD stressed that Fiji needed constitutional reform but said the outcome must be a framework that distributes power, protects rights in practice and belongs equally to all Fijians.
Its submission adds to the debate over whether the Government’s proposed constitutional changes adequately address concerns about executive power under the 2013 Constitution.
