Government must act with urgency and good faith and hold municipal elections, said Dialogue Fiji Executive Director, Nilesh Lal.
He said this will re- establish democracy at the local level.
“People want local issues addressed – roads, drainage, garbage collection, bridges, planning decisions,” said Mr Lal.
“These aren’t matters for the national legislature. Parliament is meant for national level policymaking and lawmaking, not to deal with damaged footpath in a Suva suburb or a water reservoir in a Ba village.”
Fiji has gone without elected local governments for almost 20 years now.
“If we had elected and accountable local councils in place, the push to create small local constituencies at the national level might not be so strong.”
He said the Coalition Government, upon coming into office in December 2022, made repeated promises to restore local government elections.
“But despite those promises, no real progress has been made. “In March this year, the Fijian Elections Office said they were planning to elections in September or October.”
“That’s just a few months away, and we haven’t seen any serious groundwork laid.”
It’s looking increasingly unlikely that those elections will happen on time.”
