There is a great deal of confusion about the options open to change the government or bring on a fresh election arising from SODELPA’S challenge to the authority of the Prime Minister.
Part of this lies with the 2013 Constitution itself – which has separate sections on no confidence motions and the calling of an early election that really ought to be in the same place. Anyone who goes to the document looking for answers is often misled because they only read one section when the two are intertwined.
An early election can only be called at this stage of the parliamentary cycle AFTER there has been a vote of no confidence in a prime minister that fails. So it is clear from the Constitution that a vote of no confidence has to come first.
To make it easier to understand, Grubsheet is flipping the order of the Constitution around to put the no confidence provisions – Section 94 – first. So here they are:
So that’s the horse that must come before the cart – a vote of no confidence that if successful, would see the Prime Minister removed, along with all members of the government.
If it fails, that’s when the next step kicks in. Section 58 of the Constitution starts with setting out the normal term of any parliament and then, in Section 62, details the mechanism by which that can be brought forward.
The Opposition leader must move the motion only AFTER a vote of no confidence has failed and it must be supported by at least two thirds of MPs.
So here’s what is clear from any reading of the sections above.
1/ The Prime Minister cannot call an early election – a “snap election” in the terms he used yesterday.
2/ There must first be a vote of no confidence in him. If that succeeds, he and his government are gone. If it fails, then from the end of June, the Leader of the Opposition can move a motion that parliament be dissolved and two thirds of the parliament has to support that motion.
All of which means that it isn’t an either/or – as the Prime Minister seems to have suggested – but that a motion of no confidence in him has to be the prelude for an early election.
Ergo…
If SODELPA or FijiFirst with the support of SODELPA move a no confidence motion now, there is a change of government if it succeeds. If it fails, they can’t move another one for six months.
But if they wait until the end of June – 18 months from the election – and a no confidence motion fails, the Leader of the Opposition can trigger a fresh election if he gets two thirds of the parliament behind him.
So it is a simple case of numbers. If the numbers are there now for a vote of no-confidence in the PM, he and the rest of the government are gone without any election at all. But if the PM’s opponents wait until the end of June, they get two bites of the cherry – a motion of no confidence plus the ability to trigger an election if that fails.
Get it? No, I don’t blame you. Keen to hear from constitutional lawyers if I’ve got it wrong.
Bainimarama will be sentenced to imprisonment before June and cannot run for election. The Vote of No Confidence must move swiftly. Time is of the essence.
I am not a lawyer,but I understand English, and if there is no other section in the Constitution that refers to the subject, then you are absolutely correct. Why and how politicians dont get it is mindboggling
You have explained it clearly.
Wasn’t it the case that the Coalition didn’t know the steps when they were ready to take the steps of being accepted by further votes in-house and to form the government!
Shows how poor the leaders are when trying to articulate and understand the Constitution. Which also means, how much they have misled the poor of Fiji by singing about the Constitution but not knowing it. The Constitution is against us. They said. It is against you because you don’t know what you have read. Ulukau PM.
Will the media do justice?
Nah, no hope there. They are as useless as tits on a bull.
Meanwhile, I saw Fijileaks write about the CWM Hospital today. I still remember Tabuya turning up in her white shoes to scrub the hospital on the public working bee day. I wondered how long will this show last.
This government was about show and tell. A fairy tale story about “my army days, my leadership, my love for my wife, best SAS, my gym, my garden.” Who gave an actual fuck about your days PM when the country is falling apart!
They have become so heavily reliant on aid and they celebrate aid like the biggest triumph. It is so embarrassing.
Thank you GD. You have kept at exposing and educating.
Fiji’s media sat quiet for many months. They just waking up. If they have.
I read Judy Complain’s post about IWA being banned from CWM when they have fundraised tirelessly, not for recognition, but for improvement especially in the maternity and children’s sections.
How government departments swoop in to take credit or flex muscles and make it political is crying shame. If government, this or any previous one, had done the job they are incumbent to do, CWM, and indeed any public hospital in Fiji should not be in the state of disrepair and unmaintained as they are. Ego that outstrips good deeds has become the nation’s calling card.
Logical interpretation of the 2013 Constitution and you have interpreted it well
What a mess has RABUKA and BAINIMARAMA got KHAIYUM to put FIJI in, what a mess ????
This very 2013 Constitution that we all thought RABUKA would got rid of he instead embraced it. Now it has turned around to bite him in the ASS . ????????
An opportunity, an opening to the return of FFP is possible.
Fijians ( TAUKEIS) mainly are in for power and $$$ that lives the nation to suffer more.
The snail moving SIROMI is partly to blame for his incompetence. The vakamalua fever .
May God help us and protect our beloved country .
Your synopsis of the steps related to an early election are correct.
The current PM does NOT have an ability to call an early election. As you point out the earliest, he can call one is 3 years and 6 months after the Parliament first sat.
The only other possible way for an early election would be if a motion of no confidence against the PM was successful but then the Parliament failed to elect a new Prime Minister after 3 attempts. I don’t see that happening!
Correct or not, does not mean this current government will follow the constitution. It hasn’t so far.
The way Poilitics is unfolding before our eyes in Fiji, I wonder if there is any possibility that PA and FFP join as a coalition and eject NFP and SODELPA into obilivion. Perhaps add to the many Chapters of Politics in Fiji. Let that happen – take the Politics to the Extreme. FFP and PA may compromise on their diffrerences and find some common ground to work together. Well its FIJI, anything can hapen.