{"id":36219,"date":"2022-12-09T15:20:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T11:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=36219"},"modified":"2022-12-09T15:20:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T11:20:58","slug":"as-fiji-prepares-to-vote-democracy-could-already-be-the-loser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/as-fiji-prepares-to-vote-democracy-could-already-be-the-loser\/","title":{"rendered":"As Fiji prepares to vote, democracy could already be the loser"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Fijians go to the polls next week, but the country\u2019s constitution still entrenches ultimate power and authority in the military<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n

When Fijians\u00a0elect a new parliament\u00a0on December 14, it\u2019s likely their votes will be counted fairly \u2013 yet the country will remain a conditional and fragile democracy.<\/p>\n

This will be the third election since the \u201ccoup to end all coups\u201d in 2006, which followed\u00a0two earlier coups\u00a0in 1987 and a civilian overthrow of the elected government in 2000.<\/p>\n

After the 2006 coup, Fijian military head Frank Bainimarama\u00a0appointed himself\u00a0prime minister. In 2013 he\u00a0rejected a new constitution\u00a0commissioned to support a democratic state. Instead, he promulgated his own. Section 131(2) of the\u00a0Constitution of the Republic of Fiji\u00a0states:<\/p>\n

It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians.<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, overall responsibility for the wellbeing of Fiji and its people does not belong to the government or parliament. The\u00a0military interprets\u00a0this as meaning it is \u201cmandated to be the guardian of Fiji\u201d.<\/p>\n

Democracy\u2019s fragility is entrenched. Furthermore, Fiji\u2019s unicameral parliament is not big enough to support robust parliamentary checks on government, even though it will grow from\u00a051 to 55 members\u00a0at this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

Freedom and the military<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bainimarama went from self-appointed to elected prime minister in 2014 when his FijiFirst party\u00a0won the first election\u00a0under the new constitution. It\u00a0won again in 2018\u00a0with just over 50% of the vote in the country\u2019s proportional representation system.<\/p>\n

International observers found votes were fairly counted, but the campaign was marred by intimidation of opposition candidates.<\/p>\n

Shortly before the 2018 election, opposition leader Sitivini Rabuka was charged with electoral fraud. He was\u00a0acquitted\u00a0just in time to take his place as a candidate.<\/p>\n

Rabuka was prime minister between 1992 and 1999, having led the coups in 1987 and having\u00a0described democracy\u00a0as \u201ca foreign flower unsuited to Fijian soil\u201d. In 2022, however, Rabuka\u2019s\u00a0People\u2019s Alliance, in coalition with the\u00a0National Federation Party, is the most likely alternative government.<\/p>\n

Cost of living, poverty and peaceful and orderly government are important election issues. Significantly, though, the People\u2019s Alliance\u00a0manifesto\u00a0suggests exploring amendments to the constitution. It also wants to remove measures that suppress human rights, previously\u00a0highlighted\u00a0by Amnesty International and others.<\/p>\n

Land rights and the protection of the indigenous iTaukei culture are also important in this campaign, to the extent they have prompted an outburst typical of Bainimarama\u2019s florid rhetorical style. At a campaign rally last week,\u00a0he said\u00a0of an opponent\u2019s land rights policy:<\/p>\n

This conversation will cause stabbing, murder and blood spilled on our land, and unlawful entering [of property] will happen if that conversation is condoned.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fragile free speech<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are also restrictions on political reporting. As the\u00a0Fiji Parliamentary Reporters\u2019 Handbook\u00a0(published in 2019) explains: \u201cAs in rugby, knowing the rules is the difference between enjoying the game and not being able to follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalists are reminded that the right to free speech does not allow \u201cincitement to violence or insurrection\u201d. The handbook goes on to remind them:<\/p>\n

There is scope in the Constitution to \u201climit [\u2026] rights and freedoms [\u2026] in the interests of national security, public safety, public order, public morality, public health or the orderly conduct of elections\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Interpretations of these limits can be broad. In November, for example, longstanding government critic and election candidate Richard Naidu was\u00a0convicted\u00a0of \u201ccontempt scandalising the court\u201d following a lighthearted Facebook post in which he pointed out a spelling mistake in a High Court judgment.<\/p>\n

The charge \u2013 which\u00a0Amnesty International\u00a0says should be withdrawn \u2013 was brought by the attorney-general.<\/p>\n

Towards a more stable democracy<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my 2017 book,\u00a0‘Indigeneity: a politics of potential – Australia, Fiji and New Zealand’, I argued that political stability requires ordered and principled measures for protecting iTaukei (ethnic Fijian) rights to land and culture. This is a matter of respecting human dignity, but also to ensure those rights are not used as a pretext for settling wider and sometimes unrelated conflicts.<\/p>\n

Stability does not arise only from the freedom to vote and from being confident one\u2019s vote will be fairly counted. It comes also from well-informed expectations of what governments should do and what constitutions should protect, including:<\/p>\n

– a free and diverse media, with a culture of detailed and critical investigation and reporting on public affairs
\n– a politically independent military, police and judiciary that aren\u2019t called on to intimidate opponents
\n– a larger parliament that is more representative and allows stronger checks on the executive.<\/p>\n

For now, while the military enjoys considerable credibility and support, its role as defender and arbiter of the public good ensures perpetual instability.<\/p>\n

The diplomatic and economic value of its contributions to United Nations peacekeeping missions means it remains an important national institution. And the\u00a0recent gift\u00a0of military peacekeeping vehicles from the US is an example of the soft diplomacy used by democratic states, including Australia and New Zealand, to influence contemporary Fiji.<\/p>\n

The effectiveness of that influence will be tested at some point. In the meantime, the Fijian people are free to change their government on December 14. But the possibility they will not be free to keep that government means, whatever the election outcome, democracy has lost before a vote is cast.<\/p>\n

Dominic O’Sullivan<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Adjunct Professor, <\/span>
\nProfessor of Political Science, <\/span>
\nCharles Sturt University<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 9 December 2022<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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