Constitution raises Fiji hopes

FIJI'S controversial new constitution came into effect yesterday after being signed by President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.

Fiji's President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau signs the constitution

FIJI'S controversial new constitution came into effect yesterday after being signed by President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau at Government House in Suva in an event broadcast live on television and streamed live on the internet.

The Pacific Islands Forum leaders, meeting at their annual summit in the Marshall Islands, welcomed the constitution's approval.

But they decided to hold off from inviting Fiji, which has been suspended since the 2009 coup, back into the organisation until after the free and fair elections the Fiji government has vowed to hold under the new constitution by September next year.

The assent being given to this fourth constitution since independence from Britain in 1970 was witnessed by the military ruler, Frank Bainimarama, his second in charge, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and other ministers and diplomats.

The 98-page constitution frames elections for a 50-seat parliament elected by proportional representation.

The document guarantees members and supporters of the regime immunity from all charges, and the 270 decrees it has handed down will provide the country's legislative and regulatory core.

A protest outside Government House before the signing was broken up by police, who arrested 11 women and three men.

Among the protesters - though not among those arrested - were former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry, whose Labour Party lost power at earlier coups in 1987 and 2000.

Amnesty International spokesman Michael Hayworth said: "This is the latest in a long line of incidents in which the Fiji government has violated basic human rights including freedom of expression and the right to peacefully protest."

The new constitution has been criticised by Fiji's three surviving registered political parties, but was welcomed last week by Foreign Minister Bob Carr as "an important step forward for Fiji's commitment to hold elections" next year.

It replaces an earlier document drafted by a commission chaired by constitutional expert Yash Ghai following nationwide consultations, which was discarded earlier this year by the government.