CONSTITUTIONAL lawyer Jon Apted has highlighted serious issues with Fiji’s electoral system, describing the provisions under Section 53 of the Constitution as “extremely problematic”.
Speaking during the session titled Where to from here? A Constitution for the people by the people at the Attorney-General’s Conference in Nadi, Mr Apted said that Section 53 required a multi-member open-list system of proportional representation in a single national electoral roll comprising all registered voters.
This has been interpreted to mean that Fiji operates as one large constituency, with Parliament being voted on by the “country as a whole”.
Mr Apted argued this was undesirable and that the lack of local representation was a significant flaw.
“Local people have no MP that they can go to, to protect their interests in Parliament, to advance their interests,” he said.
“In this system, candidates naturally focus on areas where the majority resides, leaving no proper constituency representation.”
Mr Apted said the current system also posed challenges for independent candidates.
“It has an unrealistic threshold for independents.
“And if a by-election is required because an independent resigns or is disqualified, the election must cover the entire country. It is a very, very expensive system.”
He explained that the system centralised votes around party leaders, which were then shared among other party members, leading to MPs holding office with very low vote counts.
“Some MPs sit in Parliament with 600, 700 or 1000 votes. They hold ministerial positions, they make speeches, and people on the ground are saying, ‘You’re not very legitimate. Only 600 people voted for you. Who are you to talk to me like that?’”
Mr Apted also questioned the constitutional basis for the single-constituency model.
“Section 53 does not explicitly require the entire country to function as one constituency, but it appears to be the intention.
“The Constitution does not give anybody the authority to demarcate and divide the country into boundaries, and provisions for filling vacancies refer to a national list rather than constituencies.”
