FIJIFIRST is expected to be deregistered as a party on June 28, and it is highly likely that the party parliamentarians will remain in Parliament as Independents.
The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) had ordered FijiFirst to amend its party constitution by June 28 as there was no grievance procedure in the party constitution for the MPs in disputes, which the FEO stated was in breach of the Political Parties Act 2013.
The resignation yesterday of founding members – which included former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum – leaves a vacuum in the party.
Neither the MPs nor the party supporters have the power to amend the party constitution because this document does not allow them to appoint the party’s leaders and executives.
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.
Meanwhile, it is understood that in a meeting yesterday, the 17 expelled FijiFirst MPs and one more MP, decided they would not want the party to continue as it would mean taking on the party’s $1.6million debt.
Political pundits are also speculating whether the unfolding political developments will eventuate in a “Government of National Unity” where all parties in Parliament become part of Government.
Yesterday, Registrar of Political Parties Ana Mataiciwa confirmed that FijiFirst still has until June 28 to amend its constitution.
She also confirmed receiving resignation letters from eight members of FijiFirst yesterday, namely Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Ratu Joji Satakala, Selai Adimaitoga, Ravindran Kumaran, Shailesh Kumar, Faiyaz Koya and Hem Chand.
In addition, Ms Mataiciwa said under the Political Parties Act 2013, the registrar did not have any intervening powers to the filling of positions in a party or overall management of affairs.
However, the registrar could only intervene if a party breached the Act.
Ms Mataiciwa said further questions relating to this must be addressed to FijiFirst, as they had the liberty to function themselves according to their party constitution without interference from the registrar.
