CONSTITUTIONAL ENGINEERING
of the current constitutional review process in Fiji and examines some of the political dynamics and challenges. It is the most controversial constitutional review process in Fiji because of the government’s rejection of the original draft by a group of international experts and the creation of a new one by government lawyers. The new constitution will provide the electoral framework for the next election in 2014 which will be used by the military-backed regime, which came into power through extra- legal means, both as its exit strategy and as its means of returning to power through legal means.
Overview of Fiji’s constitutions By the time of the highly anticipated 2014 election in Fiji, the country
would have had five constitutions within the period of 44 years since independence in 1970. This translates into one constitution for every 8.8 years, an incredibly high figure by world standard. The first constitution which came into existence in 1970 was designed to provide an ethnically balanced political formula as part of the post- independence multiracial experiment. This balance was fractured by the two 1987 ethno-nationalist coups which shifted the centre of political gravity away from the multiracial “centre” to the extreme indigenous Fijian side of the political continuum. This shift was legitimized by the abrogation of the 1970 constitution and the promulgation of the ethno-nationalist 1990 constitution which provided
for institutionalized indigenous Fijian political ascendency. As a result of internal and external pressure for a multi-ethnic constitution, the constitution was reviewed and this resulted in the 1997 constitution, often glorified as one of the most enlightened constitutions in the world because of its advocacy for multiculturalism, liberal values and a comprehensive bill of rights. Following the 2000 coup, the military attempted to abrogate the constitution but a Supreme Court decision declared the abrogation null and void. However, the constitution was later removed in 2009, three years after the Fiji Supreme Court declared Commodore Frank Bainimarama’s 2006 military coup illegal. The removal of the 1997 constitution
allowed the military-backed regime total control of all the state institutions including the judiciary.
The constitutional review After living under the shadow of military hegemony, the challenge for the country was how to put in a viable and credible process towards re-democratization through constitutional means. This was important in a number of ways including the need to re-democratize the country, rebuild state institutions destroyed after the 2006 coup, reassert the citizen’s sense of democratic citizenship, as well as provide the exit strategy for the coup leaders who found themselves entangled in the quagmire of opposition and uncertainty. The
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