Economist Professor Wadan Narsey has called on the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) to adopt the recommendations of the 2025 Fiji Electoral Law Reform Commission (FELRC), arguing that the work has already addressed many of the electoral issues now under review.
In a submission to the CRC, Narsey said the 2025 FELRC report represented “a significant milestone” in Fiji’s democratic development but was never tabled in Parliament or released publicly despite being completed and presented to Government.
Narsey, who served on the FELRC chaired by former Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki, said the Commission was tasked with strengthening democracy, improving accountability, promoting women’s representation and consulting widely with the public on electoral reform.
He said public consultations identified widespread dissatisfaction with the current electoral system, including the complex ballot paper, the lack of identifiable local Members of Parliament, and concerns that candidates with relatively few votes could enter Parliament while others with larger personal vote totals missed out.
To address those concerns, the FELRC proposed a Proportional Open List Constituency System (POLCS) comprising 25 open constituencies, 25 reserved seats for women and 21 proportional list seats, creating a 71-member Parliament.
According to Narsey, the model would preserve proportional representation while restoring local constituency representation and making MPs more directly accountable to voters.
He said the proposal would simplify voting by replacing the current numbered ballot with candidate names, party symbols and photographs, while vote counting would occur openly at constituency centres before party-list seats were allocated nationally.
Narsey also defended the recommendation for reserved seats for women, arguing that Fiji’s low level of female representation in Parliament justifies temporary special measures.
He said the proposal would ensure at least 25 women MPs, helping Fiji meet international commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) while giving women voters greater parliamentary representation.
The submission also recommends reducing the party threshold for proportional representation from five per cent to two per cent, saying the current threshold effectively discards thousands of votes cast for smaller parties.
Narsey argues that the recommended electoral model would reduce opportunities for gerrymandering, improve transparency, allow independent candidates and smaller parties a greater chance of election, and strengthen democratic accountability.
However, he expressed doubt the reforms would be implemented before the next general election, suggesting the current electoral system remains politically advantageous to Fiji’s existing leaders despite public support for change.
