Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says Fiji is entering a period in which a general election can legally be called, while the Government continues work on electoral and constitutional reforms ahead of the next polls.
Speaking on the timing of the next election, Mr Rabuka said the Constitution and Electoral Act require elections to be held within a specific timeframe following the current government’s term.
“Under the authorities contained in the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji, we are bound by the provisions of those acts and the Constitution to hold elections four years after the previous one, four years after the swearing-in of the government, or four years after the first day of sitting of the newly elected government, which puts the date for this next election to between December 24 and the first week of February 2027,” Mr Rabuka said.
He said several important processes were underway before the country heads to the polls, including an electoral review and constitutional consultations.
“There are certain things that we are trying to get done before the election.
“There has been an electoral review of the Elections Provisions Commission. They have done their report. There have also been attempts to secure the views of the people in the Constitution Review Commission.
“Those have their own lifespan.”
Mr Rabuka said any reforms arising from those reviews would need to be completed separately from election preparations.
“If they are completed in time and the consequential activities carried out, whether they be parliamentary or outside of Parliament, they will have to be done independent of the preparation for the election.”
Mr Rabuka said political parties should begin preparing for the election under the current legal framework while remaining open to possible changes.
“Parties will have to now be getting ready for the elections, assuming that it will be based on the current laws, maybe even hoping and be amenable to amending their plans to cater for the changes that may be brought in with the amendments to the various laws and acts that govern the conduct of elections, as for the Constitution or for the Elections Act.”
He stressed that elections would proceed unless Parliament passes legislation to delay them.
“Elections will be done, will be carried out, unless the Parliament legislates a delay.”
Mr Rabuka also noted that the Constitution allowed for Parliament to be dissolved before the end of its full term.
“Right now, it can be brought forward. It can be, I can ask the President to dissolve Parliament according to the time that is constitutionally mandated.
“That is any time after three and a half years after the previous election.”
Mr Rabuka said Fiji had now reached that constitutional threshold.
“So, we’re now into the time when the Constitution empowers the Government to ask the President to issue a writ for election,” he said.
