Post-Coup Government in Fiji Issues “Roadmap” to Democracy by 2010
February 20, 2007
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According to BBC News the interim Prime Minister Fiji has announced a “road map” that will lead the country back to a parliamentary democracy in 2010.  Commodore Frank Bainimarama led a bloodless coup in December of last year that ousted the elected government of Laisenia Qarase.  The Commodore accused Qarase’s government of “corruption and racism against Fiji’s ethnic Indian minority.”  The coup faced international condemnation, and was most recently declared unconstitutional by the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional intergovernmental organization. 

Radio New Zealand reports that Bainimarama’s road map will focus on issues of race in Fiji.  There will be a review of the 1997 constitution “to end the politics of race,” and that “there would no longer be voting in accordance with racial classification.”  A national population census will be held “to determine new constituencies.”  According to the International Herald Tribune, Bainimarama claims that three years are needed for these reforms, as well as for the economy to recover to fund the electoral process. 

References:

BBC News: Fiji's ruler sets election date

International Herald Tribune: Fiji's military ruler says elections will be held in 2010 to restore democracy

Radio New Zealand: Bainimarama Promises Elections in Fiji by 2010

Pacific Islands Forum